Occupant behaviour and robustness of building design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Buso, Tiziana; Fabi, Valentina; Andersen, Rune Korsholm

2015-01-01

in a dynamic building energy simulation tool (IDA ICE). The analysis was carried out by simulating 15 building envelope designs in different thermal zones of an Office Reference Building in 3 climates: Stockholm, Frankfurt and Athens.In general, robustness towards changes in occupants' behaviour increased......Occupant behaviour can cause major discrepancies between the designed and the real total energy use in buildings. A possible solution to reduce the differences between predictions and actual performances is designing robust buildings, i.e. buildings whose performances show little variations...... with alternating occupant behaviour patterns. The aim of this work was to investigate how alternating occupant behaviour patterns impact the performance of different envelope design solutions in terms of building robustness. Probabilistic models of occupants' window opening and use of shading were implemented...

Design principles for robust oscillatory behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Castillo-Hair, Sebastian M; Villota, Elizabeth R; Coronado, Alberto M

2015-09-01

Oscillatory responses are ubiquitous in regulatory networks of living organisms, a fact that has led to extensive efforts to study and replicate the circuits involved. However, to date, design principles that underlie the robustness of natural oscillators are not completely known. Here we study a three-component enzymatic network model in order to determine the topological requirements for robust oscillation. First, by simulating every possible topological arrangement and varying their parameter values, we demonstrate that robust oscillators can be obtained by augmenting the number of both negative feedback loops and positive autoregulations while maintaining an appropriate balance of positive and negative interactions. We then identify network motifs, whose presence in more complex topologies is a necessary condition for obtaining oscillatory responses. Finally, we pinpoint a series of simple architectural patterns that progressively render more robust oscillators. Together, these findings can help in the design of more reliable synthetic biomolecular networks and may also have implications in the understanding of other oscillatory systems.

Robust synthetic biology design: stochastic game theory approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Bor-Sen; Chang, Chia-Hung; Lee, Hsiao-Ching

2009-07-15

Synthetic biology is to engineer artificial biological systems to investigate natural biological phenomena and for a variety of applications. However, the development of synthetic gene networks is still difficult and most newly created gene networks are non-functioning due to uncertain initial conditions and disturbances of extra-cellular environments on the host cell. At present, how to design a robust synthetic gene network to work properly under these uncertain factors is the most important topic of synthetic biology. A robust regulation design is proposed for a stochastic synthetic gene network to achieve the prescribed steady states under these uncertain factors from the minimax regulation perspective. This minimax regulation design problem can be transformed to an equivalent stochastic game problem. Since it is not easy to solve the robust regulation design problem of synthetic gene networks by non-linear stochastic game method directly, the Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy model is proposed to approximate the non-linear synthetic gene network via the linear matrix inequality (LMI) technique through the Robust Control Toolbox in Matlab. Finally, an in silico example is given to illustrate the design procedure and to confirm the efficiency and efficacy of the proposed robust gene design method. http://www.ee.nthu.edu.tw/bschen/SyntheticBioDesign_supplement.pdf.

Application of the robust design concept for fuel loading pattern

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Endo, Tomohiro; Ohori, Kazuma; Yamamoto, Akio

2011-01-01

Application of the robust design concept for fuel loading pattern design is proposed as a new approach to improve the prediction accuracy of core characteristics. The robust design is a design concept that establishes a resistant (robust) system for perturbations or noises, by properly setting design variables. In order to apply the concept of robust design to fuel loading pattern design, we focus on a theoretical approach based on the higher order perturbation method. This approach indicates that the eigenvalue separation is one of the effective indices to measure the robustness of a designed fuel loading pattern. In order to verify the effectiveness of the eigenvalue separation as an index of robustness, numerical analysis is carried out for typical 3-loop PWR cores, and we evaluated the correlation between the eigenvalue separation and the variation of relative assembly power due to the perturbation of the cross section. The numerical results show that the variation of relative power decreases as the eigenvalue separation increases; thus, it is confirmed that the eigenvalue separation is an effective index of robustness. Based on the eigenvalue separation of a fuel loading pattern, we discuss design guidelines of a fuel loading pattern to improve the robustness. For example, if each fuel assembly has independent uncertainty on its cross section, the robustness of the core can be enhanced by increasing the relative power at the center of the core. The proposed guidelines will be useful to design a loading pattern that has robustness for uncertainties due to cross section, calculation method, and so on. (author)

Designing Phononic Crystals with Wide and Robust Band Gaps

Science.gov (United States)

Jia, Zian; Chen, Yanyu; Yang, Haoxiang; Wang, Lifeng

2018-04-01

Phononic crystals (PnCs) engineered to manipulate and control the propagation of mechanical waves have enabled the design of a range of novel devices, such as waveguides, frequency modulators, and acoustic cloaks, for which wide and robust phononic band gaps are highly preferable. While numerous PnCs have been designed in recent decades, to the best of our knowledge, PnCs that possess simultaneous wide and robust band gaps (to randomness and deformations) have not yet been reported. Here, we demonstrate that by combining the band-gap formation mechanisms of Bragg scattering and local resonances (the latter one is dominating), PnCs with wide and robust phononic band gaps can be established. The robustness of the phononic band gaps are then discussed from two aspects: robustness to geometric randomness (manufacture defects) and robustness to deformations (mechanical stimuli). Analytical formulations further predict the optimal design parameters, and an uncertainty analysis quantifies the randomness effect of each designing parameter. Moreover, we show that the deformation robustness originates from a local resonance-dominant mechanism together with the suppression of structural instability. Importantly, the proposed PnCs require only a small number of layers of elements (three unit cells) to obtain broad, robust, and strong attenuation bands, which offer great potential in designing flexible and deformable phononic devices.

Designing Phononic Crystals with Wide and Robust Band Gaps

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, Yanyu [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Jia, Zian [State University of New York at Stony Brook; Yang, Haoxiang [State University of New York at Stony Brook; Wang, Lifeng [State University of New York at Stony Brook

2018-04-16

Phononic crystals (PnCs) engineered to manipulate and control the propagation of mechanical waves have enabled the design of a range of novel devices, such as waveguides, frequency modulators, and acoustic cloaks, for which wide and robust phononic band gaps are highly preferable. While numerous PnCs have been designed in recent decades, to the best of our knowledge, PnCs that possess simultaneous wide and robust band gaps (to randomness and deformations) have not yet been reported. Here, we demonstrate that by combining the band-gap formation mechanisms of Bragg scattering and local resonances (the latter one is dominating), PnCs with wide and robust phononic band gaps can be established. The robustness of the phononic band gaps are then discussed from two aspects: robustness to geometric randomness (manufacture defects) and robustness to deformations (mechanical stimuli). Analytical formulations further predict the optimal design parameters, and an uncertainty analysis quantifies the randomness effect of each designing parameter. Moreover, we show that the deformation robustness originates from a local resonance-dominant mechanism together with the suppression of structural instability. Importantly, the proposed PnCs require only a small number of layers of elements (three unit cells) to obtain broad, robust, and strong attenuation bands, which offer great potential in designing flexible and deformable phononic devices.

A robust anti-windup design procedure for SISO systems

Science.gov (United States)

Kerr, Murray; Turner, Matthew C.; Villota, Elizabeth; Jayasuriya, Suhada; Postlethwaite, Ian

2011-02-01

A model-based anti-windup (AW) controller design approach for constrained uncertain linear single-input-single-output (SISO) systems is proposed based on quantitative feedback theory (QFT) loopshaping. The design approach explicitly incorporates uncertainty, is suitable for the solution of both the magnitude and rate saturation problems, and provides for the design of low-order AW controllers satisfying robust stability and robust performance objectives. Robust stability is enforced using absolute stability theory and generic multipliers (i.e. circle, Popov, Zames-Falb), and robust performance is enforced using linear lower-bounds on the input-output maps capturing the effects of saturation as a metric. Two detailed design examples are presented. These show that even for simple systems, certain popular AW techniques lead to compensators that may fail to ensure robust stability and performance when saturation is encountered, but that the proposed QFT design approach is able to handle both saturation and uncertainty effectively.

Trading Robustness Requirements in Mars Entry Trajectory Design

Science.gov (United States)

Lafleur, Jarret M.

2009-01-01

One of the most important metrics characterizing an atmospheric entry trajectory in preliminary design is the size of its predicted landing ellipse. Often, requirements for this ellipse are set early in design and significantly influence both the expected scientific return from a particular mission and the cost of development. Requirements typically specify a certain probability level (6-level) for the prescribed ellipse, and frequently this latter requirement is taken at 36. However, searches for the justification of 36 as a robustness requirement suggest it is an empirical rule of thumb borrowed from non-aerospace fields. This paper presents an investigation into the sensitivity of trajectory performance to varying robustness (6-level) requirements. The treatment of robustness as a distinct objective is discussed, and an analysis framework is presented involving the manipulation of design variables to effect trades between performance and robustness objectives. The scenario for which this method is illustrated is the ballistic entry of an MSL-class Mars entry vehicle. Here, the design variable is entry flight path angle, and objectives are parachute deploy altitude performance and error ellipse robustness. Resulting plots show the sensitivities between these objectives and trends in the entry flight path angles required to design to these objectives. Relevance to the trajectory designer is discussed, as are potential steps for further development and use of this type of analysis.

Robust Control Design for Uncertain Nonlinear Dynamic Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Kenny, Sean P.; Crespo, Luis G.; Andrews, Lindsey; Giesy, Daniel P.

2012-01-01

Robustness to parametric uncertainty is fundamental to successful control system design and as such it has been at the core of many design methods developed over the decades. Despite its prominence, most of the work on robust control design has focused on linear models and uncertainties that are non-probabilistic in nature. Recently, researchers have acknowledged this disparity and have been developing theory to address a broader class of uncertainties. This paper presents an experimental application of robust control design for a hybrid class of probabilistic and non-probabilistic parametric uncertainties. The experimental apparatus is based upon the classic inverted pendulum on a cart. The physical uncertainty is realized by a known additional lumped mass at an unknown location on the pendulum. This unknown location has the effect of substantially altering the nominal frequency and controllability of the nonlinear system, and in the limit has the capability to make the system neutrally stable and uncontrollable. Another uncertainty to be considered is a direct current motor parameter. The control design objective is to design a controller that satisfies stability, tracking error, control power, and transient behavior requirements for the largest range of parametric uncertainties. This paper presents an overview of the theory behind the robust control design methodology and the experimental results.

Robust design of large-displacement compliant mechanisms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lazarov, Boyan Stefanov; Schevenels, M.; Sigmund, Ole

2011-01-01

The aim of this article is to introduce a new topology optimisation formulation for optimal robust design of Micro Electro Mechanical Systems. Mesh independence in topology optimisation is most often ensured by using filtering techniques, which result in transition grey regions difficult to inter...... in nearly black and white mechanism designs, robust with respect to uncertainties in the production process, i.e. without any hinges or small details which can create manufacturing difficulties....

Towards robust optimal design of storm water systems

Science.gov (United States)

Marquez Calvo, Oscar; Solomatine, Dimitri

2015-04-01

In this study the focus is on the design of a storm water or a combined sewer system. Such a system should be capable to handle properly most of the storm to minimize the damages caused by flooding due to the lack of capacity of the system to cope with rain water at peak times. This problem is a multi-objective optimization problem: we have to take into account the minimization of the construction costs, the minimization of damage costs due to flooding, and possibly other criteria. One of the most important factors influencing the design of storm water systems is the expected amount of water to deal with. It is common that this infrastructure is developed with the capacity to cope with events that occur once in, say 10 or 20 years - so-called design rainfall events. However, rainfall is a random variable and such uncertainty typically is not taken explicitly into account in optimization. Rainfall design data is based on historical information of rainfalls, but many times this data is based on unreliable measures; or in not enough historical information; or as we know, the patterns of rainfall are changing regardless of historical information. There are also other sources of uncertainty influencing design, for example, leakages in the pipes and accumulation of sediments in pipes. In the context of storm water or combined sewer systems design or rehabilitation, robust optimization technique should be able to find the best design (or rehabilitation plan) within the available budget but taking into account uncertainty in those variables that were used to design the system. In this work we consider various approaches to robust optimization proposed by various authors (Gabrel, Murat, Thiele 2013; Beyer, Sendhoff 2007) and test a novel method ROPAR (Solomatine 2012) to analyze robustness. References Beyer, H.G., & Sendhoff, B. (2007). Robust optimization - A comprehensive survey. Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg., 3190-3218. Gabrel, V.; Murat, C., Thiele, A. (2014

Creating geometrically robust designs for highly sensitive problems using topology optimization: Acoustic cavity design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christiansen, Rasmus E.; Lazarov, Boyan S.; Jensen, Jakob S.

2015-01-01

Resonance and wave-propagation problems are known to be highly sensitive towards parameter variations. This paper discusses topology optimization formulations for creating designs that perform robustly under spatial variations for acoustic cavity problems. For several structural problems, robust...... and limitations are discussed. In addition, a known explicit penalization approach is considered for comparison. For near-uniform spatial variations it is shown that highly robust designs can be obtained using the double filter approach. It is finally demonstrated that taking non-uniform variations into account...... further improves the robustness of the designs....

Reliability-Based Robust Design Optimization of Structures Considering Uncertainty in Design Variables

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shujuan Wang

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates the structural design optimization to cover both the reliability and robustness under uncertainty in design variables. The main objective is to improve the efficiency of the optimization process. To address this problem, a hybrid reliability-based robust design optimization (RRDO method is proposed. Prior to the design optimization, the Sobol sensitivity analysis is used for selecting key design variables and providing response variance as well, resulting in significantly reduced computational complexity. The single-loop algorithm is employed to guarantee the structural reliability, allowing fast optimization process. In the case of robust design, the weighting factor balances the response performance and variance with respect to the uncertainty in design variables. The main contribution of this paper is that the proposed method applies the RRDO strategy with the usage of global approximation and the Sobol sensitivity analysis, leading to the reduced computational cost. A structural example is given to illustrate the performance of the proposed method.

Multidisciplinary Design Optimization for High Reliability and Robustness

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Grandhi, Ramana

2005-01-01

.... Over the last 3 years Wright State University has been applying analysis tools to predict the behavior of critical disciplines to produce highly robust torpedo designs using robust multi-disciplinary...

Robust Learning Control Design for Quantum Unitary Transformations.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Chengzhi; Qi, Bo; Chen, Chunlin; Dong, Daoyi

2017-12-01

Robust control design for quantum unitary transformations has been recognized as a fundamental and challenging task in the development of quantum information processing due to unavoidable decoherence or operational errors in the experimental implementation of quantum operations. In this paper, we extend the systematic methodology of sampling-based learning control (SLC) approach with a gradient flow algorithm for the design of robust quantum unitary transformations. The SLC approach first uses a "training" process to find an optimal control strategy robust against certain ranges of uncertainties. Then a number of randomly selected samples are tested and the performance is evaluated according to their average fidelity. The approach is applied to three typical examples of robust quantum transformation problems including robust quantum transformations in a three-level quantum system, in a superconducting quantum circuit, and in a spin chain system. Numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the SLC approach and show its potential applications in various implementation of quantum unitary transformations.

Robustness of Adaptive Survey Designs to Inaccuracy of Design Parameters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Burger Joep

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Adaptive survey designs (ASDs optimize design features, given 1 the interactions between the design features and characteristics of sampling units and 2 a set of constraints, such as a budget and a minimum number of respondents. Estimation of the interactions is subject to both random and systematic error. In this article, we propose and evaluate four viewpoints to assess robustness of ASDs to inaccuracy of design parameter estimates: the effect of both imprecision and bias on both ASD structure and ASD performance. We additionally propose three distance measures to compare the structure of ASDs. The methodology is illustrated using a simple simulation study and a more complex but realistic case study on the Dutch Travel Survey. The proposed methodology can be applied to other ASD optimization problems. In our simulation study and case study, the ASD was fairly robust to imprecision, but not to realistic dynamics in the design parameters. To deal with the sensitivity of ASDs to changing design parameters, we recommend to learn and update the design parameters.

Approximability of Robust Network Design

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Olver, N.K.; Shepherd, F.B.

2014-01-01

We consider robust (undirected) network design (RND) problems where the set of feasible demands may be given by an arbitrary convex body. This model, introduced by Ben-Ameur and Kerivin [Ben-Ameur W, Kerivin H (2003) New economical virtual private networks. Comm. ACM 46(6):69-73], generalizes the

Robust control design verification using the modular modeling system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Edwards, R.M.; Ben-Abdennour, A.; Lee, K.Y.

1991-01-01

The Modular Modeling System (B ampersand W MMS) is being used as a design tool to verify robust controller designs for improving power plant performance while also providing fault-accommodating capabilities. These controllers are designed based on optimal control theory and are thus model based controllers which are targeted for implementation in a computer based digital control environment. The MMS is being successfully used to verify that the controllers are tolerant of uncertainties between the plant model employed in the controller and the actual plant; i.e., that they are robust. The two areas in which the MMS is being used for this purpose is in the design of (1) a reactor power controller with improved reactor temperature response, and (2) the design of a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) robust fault-accommodating controller for a deaerator level and pressure control problem

Robust structural design against self-excited vibrations

CERN Document Server

Spelsberg-Korspeter, Gottfried

2013-01-01

This book studies methods for a robust design of rotors against self-excited vibrations. The occurrence of self-excited vibrations in engineering applications if often unwanted and in many cases difficult to model. Thinking of complex systems such as machines with many components and mechanical contacts, it is important to have guidelines for design so that the functionality is robust against small imperfections. This book discusses the question on how to design a structure such that unwanted self-excited vibrations do not occur. It shows theoretically and practically that the old design rule to avoid multiple eigenvalues points toward the right direction and have optimized structures accordingly. This extends results for the well-known flutter problem in which equations of motion with constant coefficients occur to the case of a linear conservative system with arbitrary time periodic perturbations.

Design of Robust Neural Network Classifiers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Jan; Andersen, Lars Nonboe; Hintz-Madsen, Mads

1998-01-01

This paper addresses a new framework for designing robust neural network classifiers. The network is optimized using the maximum a posteriori technique, i.e., the cost function is the sum of the log-likelihood and a regularization term (prior). In order to perform robust classification, we present...... a modified likelihood function which incorporates the potential risk of outliers in the data. This leads to the introduction of a new parameter, the outlier probability. Designing the neural classifier involves optimization of network weights as well as outlier probability and regularization parameters. We...... suggest to adapt the outlier probability and regularisation parameters by minimizing the error on a validation set, and a simple gradient descent scheme is derived. In addition, the framework allows for constructing a simple outlier detector. Experiments with artificial data demonstrate the potential...

Robust design principles for reducing variation in functional performance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Martin Ebro; Howard, Thomas J.

2016-01-01

This paper identifies, describes and classifies a comprehensive collection of variation reduction principles (VRP) that can be used to increase the robustness of a product and reduce its variation in functional performance. Performance variation has a negative effect on the reliability and percei......This paper identifies, describes and classifies a comprehensive collection of variation reduction principles (VRP) that can be used to increase the robustness of a product and reduce its variation in functional performance. Performance variation has a negative effect on the reliability...... and perceived quality of a product and efforts should be made to minimise it. The design principles are identified by a systematic decomposition of the Taguchi Transfer Function in combination with the use of existing literature and the authors’ experience. The paper presents 15 principles and describes...... their advantages and disadvantages along with example cases. Subsequently, the principles are classified based on their applicability in the various development and production stages. The VRP are to be added to existing robust design methodologies, helping the designer to think beyond robust design tool and method...

Systematic and robust design of photonic crystal waveguides by topology optimization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wang, Fengwen; Jensen, Jakob Søndergaard; Sigmund, Ole

2010-01-01

on a threshold projection. The objective is formulated to minimize the maximum error between actual group indices and a prescribed group index among these three designs. Novel photonic crystal waveguide facilitating slow light with a group index of n(g) = 40 is achieved by the robust optimization approach......A robust topology optimization method is presented to consider manufacturing uncertainties in tailoring dispersion properties of photonic crystal waveguides. The under, normal and over-etching scenarios in manufacturing process are represented by dilated, intermediate and eroded designs based....... The numerical result illustrates that the robust topology optimization provides a systematic and robust design methodology for photonic crystal waveguide design....

Design and implementation of robust controllers for a gait trainer.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, F C; Yu, C H; Chou, T Y

2009-08-01

This paper applies robust algorithms to control an active gait trainer for children with walking disabilities. Compared with traditional rehabilitation procedures, in which two or three trainers are required to assist the patient, a motor-driven mechanism was constructed to improve the efficiency of the procedures. First, a six-bar mechanism was designed and constructed to mimic the trajectory of children's ankles in walking. Second, system identification techniques were applied to obtain system transfer functions at different operating points by experiments. Third, robust control algorithms were used to design Hinfinity robust controllers for the system. Finally, the designed controllers were implemented to verify experimentally the system performance. From the results, the proposed robust control strategies are shown to be effective.

Designing robust control-based HIV-treatment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fredy Andrés Olarte Dussán

2008-05-01

Full Text Available Designing a robust control-based treatment for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-infected patients was studied. The dynamics of the immune system’s response to infection was modelled using a 5th order nonlinear model with separate efficacy coefficients for protease inhibitor (PIs and reverse transcriptase inhibitors (RTIs. The immune res-ponse has been represented as an uncertain system due to errors in parameter estimation and the existence of un-modelled dynamics. A polytopic system was constructed incorporating all possible system parameter values. A con-trol system was designed using robust pole location techniques stabilising the polytopic system around an equilibrium point having a low viral load. Numerical simulation results (including the organism’s pharmacokinetical response to anti-retroviral drugs showed that the control law could lead to long-term stable conditions, even in extreme cases.

A systematic design method for robust synthetic biology to satisfy design specifications.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Bor-Sen; Wu, Chih-Hung

2009-06-30

Synthetic biology is foreseen to have important applications in biotechnology and medicine, and is expected to contribute significantly to a better understanding of the functioning of complex biological systems. However, the development of synthetic gene networks is still difficult and most newly created gene networks are non-functioning due to intrinsic parameter uncertainties, external disturbances and functional variations of intra- and extra-cellular environments. The design method for a robust synthetic gene network that works properly in a host cell under these intrinsic parameter uncertainties and external disturbances is the most important topic in synthetic biology. In this study, we propose a stochastic model that includes parameter fluctuations and external disturbances to mimic the dynamic behaviors of a synthetic gene network in the host cell. Then, based on this stochastic model, four design specifications are introduced to guarantee that a synthetic gene network can achieve its desired steady state behavior in spite of parameter fluctuations, external disturbances and functional variations in the host cell. We propose a systematic method to select a set of appropriate design parameters for a synthetic gene network that will satisfy these design specifications so that the intrinsic parameter fluctuations can be tolerated, the external disturbances can be efficiently filtered, and most importantly, the desired steady states can be achieved. Thus the synthetic gene network can work properly in a host cell under intrinsic parameter uncertainties, external disturbances and functional variations. Finally, a design procedure for the robust synthetic gene network is developed and a design example is given in silico to confirm the performance of the proposed method. Based on four design specifications, a systematic design procedure is developed for designers to engineer a robust synthetic biology network that can achieve its desired steady state behavior

Robust Optimization of Fourth Party Logistics Network Design under Disruptions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jia Li

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The Fourth Party Logistics (4PL network faces disruptions of various sorts under the dynamic and complex environment. In order to explore the robustness of the network, the 4PL network design with consideration of random disruptions is studied. The purpose of the research is to construct a 4PL network that can provide satisfactory service to customers at a lower cost when disruptions strike. Based on the definition of β-robustness, a robust optimization model of 4PL network design under disruptions is established. Based on the NP-hard characteristic of the problem, the artificial fish swarm algorithm (AFSA and the genetic algorithm (GA are developed. The effectiveness of the algorithms is tested and compared by simulation examples. By comparing the optimal solutions of the 4PL network for different robustness level, it is indicated that the robust optimization model can evade the market risks effectively and save the cost in the maximum limit when it is applied to 4PL network design.

Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Robust Design 2014

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

The symposium concerns the topic of robust design from a practical and industry orientated perspective. During the 2 day symposium we will share our understanding of the need of industry with respect to the control of variance, reliability issues and approaches to robust design. The target audience...

Robustness Issues for Design of Innovative Timber Structures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hald, Frederik; Kirkegaard, Poul Henning; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

2013-01-01

Robustness of structural systems has obtained a renewed interest due to a much more frequent use of advanced types of structures with limited redundancy and serious conse-quences in case of failure. The present paper summaries issues with respect to robustness of timber structures. Two different...... large span timber structures are analyzed and based on these analyses the paper presents guidelines for the future development of innovative timber struc-tures which are robust with respect to design and execution errors, unforeseen degradation and other potential hazards....

Partnerships for the Design, Conduct, and Analysis of Effectiveness, and Implementation Research: Experiences of the Prevention Science and Methodology Group

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, C. Hendricks; Kellam, Sheppard G.; Kaupert, Sheila; Muthén, Bengt O.; Wang, Wei; Muthén, Linda K.; Chamberlain, Patricia; PoVey, Craig L.; Cady, Rick; Valente, Thomas W.; Ogihara, Mitsunori; Prado, Guillermo J.; Pantin, Hilda M.; Gallo, Carlos G.; Szapocznik, José; Czaja, Sara J.; McManus, John W.

2012-01-01

What progress prevention research has made comes through strategic partnerships with communities and institutions that host this research, as well as professional and practice networks that facilitate the diffusion of knowledge about prevention. We discuss partnership issues related to the design, analysis, and implementation of prevention research and especially how rigorous designs, including random assignment, get resolved through a partnership between community stakeholders, institutions, and researchers. These partnerships shape not only study design, but they determine the data that can be collected and how results and new methods are disseminated. We also examine a second type of partnership to improve the implementation of effective prevention programs into practice. We draw on social networks to studying partnership formation and function. The experience of the Prevention Science and Methodology Group, which itself is a networked partnership between scientists and methodologists, is highlighted. PMID:22160786

Robust THP Transceiver Designs for Multiuser MIMO Downlink with Imperfect CSIT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. Ubaidulla

2009-01-01

Full Text Available We present robust joint nonlinear transceiver designs for multiuser multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO downlink in the presence of imperfections in the channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT. The base station (BS is equipped with multiple transmit antennas, and each user terminal is equipped with one or more receive antennas. The BS employs Tomlinson-Harashima precoding (THP for interuser interference precancellation at the transmitter. We consider robust transceiver designs that jointly optimize the transmit THP filters and receive filter for two models of CSIT errors. The first model is a stochastic error (SE model, where the CSIT error is Gaussian-distributed. This model is applicable when the CSIT error is dominated by channel estimation error. In this case, the proposed robust transceiver design seeks to minimize a stochastic function of the sum mean square error (SMSE under a constraint on the total BS transmit power. We propose an iterative algorithm to solve this problem. The other model we consider is a norm-bounded error (NBE model, where the CSIT error can be specified by an uncertainty set. This model is applicable when the CSIT error is dominated by quantization errors. In this case, we consider a worst-case design. For this model, we consider robust (i minimum SMSE, (ii MSE-constrained, and (iii MSE-balancing transceiver designs. We propose iterative algorithms to solve these problems, wherein each iteration involves a pair of semidefinite programs (SDPs. Further, we consider an extension of the proposed algorithm to the case with per-antenna power constraints. We evaluate the robustness of the proposed algorithms to imperfections in CSIT through simulation, and show that the proposed robust designs outperform nonrobust designs as well as robust linear transceiver designs reported in the recent literature.

Robust THP Transceiver Designs for Multiuser MIMO Downlink with Imperfect CSIT

Science.gov (United States)

Ubaidulla, P.; Chockalingam, A.

2009-12-01

We present robust joint nonlinear transceiver designs for multiuser multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) downlink in the presence of imperfections in the channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT). The base station (BS) is equipped with multiple transmit antennas, and each user terminal is equipped with one or more receive antennas. The BS employs Tomlinson-Harashima precoding (THP) for interuser interference precancellation at the transmitter. We consider robust transceiver designs that jointly optimize the transmit THP filters and receive filter for two models of CSIT errors. The first model is a stochastic error (SE) model, where the CSIT error is Gaussian-distributed. This model is applicable when the CSIT error is dominated by channel estimation error. In this case, the proposed robust transceiver design seeks to minimize a stochastic function of the sum mean square error (SMSE) under a constraint on the total BS transmit power. We propose an iterative algorithm to solve this problem. The other model we consider is a norm-bounded error (NBE) model, where the CSIT error can be specified by an uncertainty set. This model is applicable when the CSIT error is dominated by quantization errors. In this case, we consider a worst-case design. For this model, we consider robust (i) minimum SMSE, (ii) MSE-constrained, and (iii) MSE-balancing transceiver designs. We propose iterative algorithms to solve these problems, wherein each iteration involves a pair of semidefinite programs (SDPs). Further, we consider an extension of the proposed algorithm to the case with per-antenna power constraints. We evaluate the robustness of the proposed algorithms to imperfections in CSIT through simulation, and show that the proposed robust designs outperform nonrobust designs as well as robust linear transceiver designs reported in the recent literature.

Lyapunov stability robust analysis and robustness design for linear continuous-time systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Luo, J.S.; Johnson, A.; Bosch, van den P.P.J.

1995-01-01

The linear continuous-time systems to be discussed are described by state space models with structured time-varying uncertainties. First, the explicit maximal perturbation bound for maintaining quadratic Lyapunov stability of the closed-loop systems is presented. Then, a robust design method is

Partnerships – Limited partnerships and limited liability limited partnerships

OpenAIRE

Henning, Johan J.

2000-01-01

Consideration of the Limited Liability Partnership Act 2000 which introduced a new corporate entity, carrying the designations “partnership” and “limited” which allow members to limit their liability whilst organising themselves internally as a partnership. Article by Professor Johan Henning (Director of the Centre for Corporate Law and Practice, IALS and Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of the Free State, South Africa). Published in Amicus Curiae - Journal of the Institute of Advanced ...

Using H∞ to design robust POD controllers for wind power plants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mehmedalic, Jasmin; Knüppel, Thyge; Østergaard, Jacob

2012-01-01

Large wind power plants (WPPs) can help to improve small signal stability by increasing the damping of electromechanical modes of oscillation. This can be done by adding a power system oscillation damping (POD) controller to the wind power plants, similar to power system stabilizer (PSS......) controllers on conventional generation. Here two different design methods are evaluated for their suitability in producing a robust power system oscillation damping controller for wind power plants with full-load converter wind turbine generators (WTGs). Controllers are designed using classic PSS design and H......∞ methods and the designed controllers evaluated on both performance and robustness. It is found that the choice of control signal has a large influence on the robustness of the controllers, and the best performance and robustness is found when the converter active power command is used as control signal...

Robust network design for multispecies conservation

Science.gov (United States)

Ronan Le Bras; Bistra Dilkina; Yexiang Xue; Carla P. Gomes; Kevin S. McKelvey; Michael K. Schwartz; Claire A. Montgomery

2013-01-01

Our work is motivated by an important network design application in computational sustainability concerning wildlife conservation. In the face of human development and climate change, it is important that conservation plans for protecting landscape connectivity exhibit certain level of robustness. While previous work has focused on conservation strategies that result...

Optimization of robustness of interdependent network controllability by redundant design.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zenghu Zhang

Full Text Available Controllability of complex networks has been a hot topic in recent years. Real networks regarded as interdependent networks are always coupled together by multiple networks. The cascading process of interdependent networks including interdependent failure and overload failure will destroy the robustness of controllability for the whole network. Therefore, the optimization of the robustness of interdependent network controllability is of great importance in the research area of complex networks. In this paper, based on the model of interdependent networks constructed first, we determine the cascading process under different proportions of node attacks. Then, the structural controllability of interdependent networks is measured by the minimum driver nodes. Furthermore, we propose a parameter which can be obtained by the structure and minimum driver set of interdependent networks under different proportions of node attacks and analyze the robustness for interdependent network controllability. Finally, we optimize the robustness of interdependent network controllability by redundant design including node backup and redundancy edge backup and improve the redundant design by proposing different strategies according to their cost. Comparative strategies of redundant design are conducted to find the best strategy. Results shows that node backup and redundancy edge backup can indeed decrease those nodes suffering from failure and improve the robustness of controllability. Considering the cost of redundant design, we should choose BBS (betweenness-based strategy or DBS (degree based strategy for node backup and HDF(high degree first for redundancy edge backup. Above all, our proposed strategies are feasible and effective at improving the robustness of interdependent network controllability.

Gear hot forging process robust design based on finite element method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xuewen, Chen; Won, Jung Dong

2008-01-01

During the hot forging process, the shaping property and forging quality will fluctuate because of die wear, manufacturing tolerance, dimensional variation caused by temperature and the different friction conditions, etc. In order to control this variation in performance and to optimize the process parameters, a robust design method is proposed in this paper, based on the finite element method for the hot forging process. During the robust design process, the Taguchi method is the basic robust theory. The finite element analysis is incorporated in order to simulate the hot forging process. In addition, in order to calculate the objective function value, an orthogonal design method is selected to arrange experiments and collect sample points. The ANOVA method is employed to analyze the relationships of the design parameters and design objectives and to find the best parameters. Finally, a case study for the gear hot forging process is conducted. With the objective to reduce the forging force and its variation, the robust design mathematical model is established. The optimal design parameters obtained from this study indicate that the forging force has been reduced and its variation has been controlled

Enabling Rapid and Robust Structural Analysis During Conceptual Design

Science.gov (United States)

Eldred, Lloyd B.; Padula, Sharon L.; Li, Wu

2015-01-01

This paper describes a multi-year effort to add a structural analysis subprocess to a supersonic aircraft conceptual design process. The desired capabilities include parametric geometry, automatic finite element mesh generation, static and aeroelastic analysis, and structural sizing. The paper discusses implementation details of the new subprocess, captures lessons learned, and suggests future improvements. The subprocess quickly compares concepts and robustly handles large changes in wing or fuselage geometry. The subprocess can rank concepts with regard to their structural feasibility and can identify promising regions of the design space. The automated structural analysis subprocess is deemed robust and rapid enough to be included in multidisciplinary conceptual design and optimization studies.

Robust Design Optimization of an Aerospace Vehicle Prolusion System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Aamir Raza

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a robust design optimization methodology under design uncertainties of an aerospace vehicle propulsion system. The approach consists of 3D geometric design coupled with complex internal ballistics, hybrid optimization, worst-case deviation, and efficient statistical approach. The uncertainties are propagated through worst-case deviation using first-order orthogonal design matrices. The robustness assessment is measured using the framework of mean-variance and percentile difference approach. A parametric sensitivity analysis is carried out to analyze the effects of design variables variation on performance parameters. A hybrid simulated annealing and pattern search approach is used as an optimizer. The results show the objective function of optimizing the mean performance and minimizing the variation of performance parameters in terms of thrust ratio and total impulse could be achieved while adhering to the system constraints.

Robust reactor power control system design by genetic algorithm

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Yoon Joon; Cho, Kyung Ho; Kim, Sin [Cheju National University, Cheju (Korea, Republic of)

1998-12-31

The H{sub {infinity}} robust controller for the reactor power control system is designed by use of the mixed weight sensitivity. The system is configured into the typical two-port model with which the weight functions are augmented. Since the solution depends on the weighting functions and the problem is of nonconvex, the genetic algorithm is used to determine the weighting functions. The cost function applied in the genetic algorithm permits the direct control of the power tracking performances. In addition, the actual operating constraints such as rod velocity and acceleration can be treated as design parameters. Compared with the conventional approach, the controller designed by the genetic algorithm results in the better performances with the realistic constraints. Also, it is found that the genetic algorithm could be used as an effective tool in the robust design. 4 refs., 6 figs. (Author)

Robust reactor power control system design by genetic algorithm

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Yoon Joon; Cho, Kyung Ho; Kim, Sin [Cheju National University, Cheju (Korea, Republic of)

1997-12-31

The H{sub {infinity}} robust controller for the reactor power control system is designed by use of the mixed weight sensitivity. The system is configured into the typical two-port model with which the weight functions are augmented. Since the solution depends on the weighting functions and the problem is of nonconvex, the genetic algorithm is used to determine the weighting functions. The cost function applied in the genetic algorithm permits the direct control of the power tracking performances. In addition, the actual operating constraints such as rod velocity and acceleration can be treated as design parameters. Compared with the conventional approach, the controller designed by the genetic algorithm results in the better performances with the realistic constraints. Also, it is found that the genetic algorithm could be used as an effective tool in the robust design. 4 refs., 6 figs. (Author)

Optimisation in the Design of Environmental Sensor Networks with Robustness Consideration

Science.gov (United States)

Budi, Setia; de Souza, Paulo; Timms, Greg; Malhotra, Vishv; Turner, Paul

2015-01-01

This work proposes the design of Environmental Sensor Networks (ESN) through balancing robustness and redundancy. An Evolutionary Algorithm (EA) is employed to find the optimal placement of sensor nodes in the Region of Interest (RoI). Data quality issues are introduced to simulate their impact on the performance of the ESN. Spatial Regression Test (SRT) is also utilised to promote robustness in data quality of the designed ESN. The proposed method provides high network representativeness (fit for purpose) with minimum sensor redundancy (cost), and ensures robustness by enabling the network to continue to achieve its objectives when some sensors fail. PMID:26633392

Robust fast controller design via nonlinear fractional differential equations.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Xi; Wei, Yiheng; Liang, Shu; Wang, Yong

2017-07-01

A new method for linear system controller design is proposed whereby the closed-loop system achieves both robustness and fast response. The robustness performance considered here means the damping ratio of closed-loop system can keep its desired value under system parameter perturbation, while the fast response, represented by rise time of system output, can be improved by tuning the controller parameter. We exploit techniques from both the nonlinear systems control and the fractional order systems control to derive a novel nonlinear fractional order controller. For theoretical analysis of the closed-loop system performance, two comparison theorems are developed for a class of fractional differential equations. Moreover, the rise time of the closed-loop system can be estimated, which facilitates our controller design to satisfy the fast response performance and maintain the robustness. Finally, numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of our methods. Copyright © 2017 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Robust PID based power system stabiliser: Design and real-time implementation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bevrani, Hassan [Department of Electrical and Computer Eng., University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Hiyama, Takashi [Department of Electrical and Computer Eng., Kumamoto University, Kumamoto (Japan); Bevrani, Hossein [Department of Statistics, University of Tabriz, Tabriz (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2011-02-15

This paper addresses a new robust control strategy to synthesis of robust proportional-integral-derivative (PID) based power system stabilisers (PSS). The PID based PSS design problem is reduced to find an optimal gain vector via an H{infinity} static output feedback control (H{infinity}-SOF) technique, and the solution is easily carried out using a developed iterative linear matrix inequalities algorithm. To illustrate the developed approach, a real-time experiment has been performed for a longitudinal four-machine infinite-bus system using the Analog Power System Simulator at the Research Laboratory of the Kyushu Electric Power Company. The results of the proposed control strategy are compared with full-order H{infinity} and conventional PSS designs. The robust PSS is shown to maintain the robust performance and minimise the effect of disturbances properly. (author)

Robust D-optimal designs under correlated error, applicable invariantly for some lifetime distributions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Das, Rabindra Nath; Kim, Jinseog; Park, Jeong-Soo

2015-01-01

In quality engineering, the most commonly used lifetime distributions are log-normal, exponential, gamma and Weibull. Experimental designs are useful for predicting the optimal operating conditions of the process in lifetime improvement experiments. In the present article, invariant robust first-order D-optimal designs are derived for correlated lifetime responses having the above four distributions. Robust designs are developed for some correlated error structures. It is shown that robust first-order D-optimal designs for these lifetime distributions are always robust rotatable but the converse is not true. Moreover, it is observed that these designs depend on the respective error covariance structure but are invariant to the above four lifetime distributions. This article generalizes the results of Das and Lin [7] for the above four lifetime distributions with general (intra-class, inter-class, compound symmetry, and tri-diagonal) correlated error structures. - Highlights: • This paper presents invariant robust first-order D-optimal designs under correlated lifetime responses. • The results of Das and Lin [7] are extended for the four lifetime (log-normal, exponential, gamma and Weibull) distributions. • This paper also generalizes the results of Das and Lin [7] to more general correlated error structures

Robust Bayesian Experimental Design for Conceptual Model Discrimination

Science.gov (United States)

Pham, H. V.; Tsai, F. T. C.

2015-12-01

A robust Bayesian optimal experimental design under uncertainty is presented to provide firm information for model discrimination, given the least number of pumping wells and observation wells. Firm information is the maximum information of a system can be guaranteed from an experimental design. The design is based on the Box-Hill expected entropy decrease (EED) before and after the experiment design and the Bayesian model averaging (BMA) framework. A max-min programming is introduced to choose the robust design that maximizes the minimal Box-Hill EED subject to that the highest expected posterior model probability satisfies a desired probability threshold. The EED is calculated by the Gauss-Hermite quadrature. The BMA method is used to predict future observations and to quantify future observation uncertainty arising from conceptual and parametric uncertainties in calculating EED. Monte Carlo approach is adopted to quantify the uncertainty in the posterior model probabilities. The optimal experimental design is tested by a synthetic 5-layer anisotropic confined aquifer. Nine conceptual groundwater models are constructed due to uncertain geological architecture and boundary condition. High-performance computing is used to enumerate all possible design solutions in order to identify the most plausible groundwater model. Results highlight the impacts of scedasticity in future observation data as well as uncertainty sources on potential pumping and observation locations.

Robust Design of Sounds in Mechanical Mechanisms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boegedal Jensen, Annemette; Munch, Natasja; Howard, Thomas J.

2015-01-01

mechanism consisting of a toothed rack and a click arm. First several geometries of the teeth and the click arm’s head were investigated to identify the most robust and repeatable design. It was found that a flat surface in the valleys between the teeth is very beneficial in relation to repeatability...

DESIGN OF ROBUST NAVIGATION AND STABILIZATION LOOPS OF PRECISION ATTITUDE AND HEADING REFERENCE SYSTEM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olha Sushchenko

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Purpose: The paper focuses on problems of design of robust precision attitude and heading reference systems, which can be applied in navigation of marine vehicles. The main goal is to create the optimization procedures for design of navigation and stabilization loops of the multimode gimballed system. The optimization procedure of the navigation loop design is based on the parametric robust H2/H∞-optimization. The optimization procedure of the stabilization loop design is based on the robust structural H∞-synthesis. Methods: To solve the given problem the methods of the robust control system theory and optimization methods are used. Results: The kinematical scheme of the precision gimballed attitude and heading reference system is represented. The parametrical optimization algorithm taking into consideration features of the researched system is given. Method of the mixed sensitivity relative to the researched system design is analyzed. Coefficients of the control laws of navigation loops are obtained based on optimization procedure providing compromise between accuracy and robustness. The robust controller of the stabilization loop was developed based on robust structural synthesis using method of the mixed sensitivity. Simulation of navigation and stabilization processes is carried out. Conclusions: The represented results prove efficiency of the proposed procedures, which can be useful for design of precision navigation systems of the moving vehicles.

QUALITY IMPROVEMENT IN MULTIRESPONSE EXPERIMENTS THROUGH ROBUST DESIGN METHODOLOGY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Shilpa

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Robust design methodology aims at reducing the variability in the product performance in the presence of noise factors. Experiments involving simultaneous optimization of more than one quality characteristic are known as multiresponse experiments which are used in the development and improvement of industrial processes and products. In this paper, robust design methodology is applied to optimize the process parameters during a particular operation of rotary driving shaft manufacturing process. The three important quality characteristics of the shaft considered here are of type Nominal-the-best, Smaller-the-better and Fraction defective. Simultaneous optimization of these responses is carried out by identifying the control parameters and conducting the experimentation using L9 orthogonal array.

DESIGNING PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP FOR BONTANG INDUSTRIAL ESTATE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adjie Pamungkas

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Bontang Local Government has planned Bontang Industrial Estate (BIE to accommodate oil, gas, condensate and other industries.  The estate will need investment for about IDR. 2.27 Trillion while the total annual local government budget is near to IDR 2 Trillion. Moreover, the estate has to be operated in a business manner while the local government officers have a culture in non-profit organisation as part of bureaucracy. However, the BIE feasibility study 2013 has determined that the estate will generate economic multipliers boosting the city development.  Therefore, a partnership among government and private parties should be determined and accommodated in a proper cooperation arrangement. To design the partnership, we review literature, interview related private parties and confirm opinions of the private parties to the governments. A content analysis was used to assess information from the interviews. Considering the final outputs, BIE should be organised by a pure private enterprise or Ltd. to ensure the economic viable of the estate. The Ltd. is a partnership among the government and private parties via shareholders. The government can still hold a majority share with special arrangement in investment scheme. For the initial investments, the government can use its assets valued as 51% of total share while private parties can inject cash money equal to 49% of the total.  With this capital arrangement, the estate can be operated with initial investment for about IDR. 267.11 Billion on 244.97 Ha land. This initial investment can be profitable with IDR. 650 Billion NPV, 19.93% IRR and 13.95 year PP.Bontang Local Government has planned Bontang Industrial Estate (BIE to accommodate oil, gas, condensate and other industries.

Integrating Geospatial Technologies to Examine Urban Land Use Change: A Design Partnership

Science.gov (United States)

Bodzin, Alec M.; Cirucci, Lori

2009-01-01

This article describes a design partnership that investigated how to integrate Google Earth, remotely sensed satellite and aerial imagery, with other instructional resources to investigate ground cover and land use in diverse middle school classrooms. Data analysis from the implementation study revealed that students acquired skills for…

Stochastic simulation and robust design optimization of integrated photonic filters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weng Tsui-Wei

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Manufacturing variations are becoming an unavoidable issue in modern fabrication processes; therefore, it is crucial to be able to include stochastic uncertainties in the design phase. In this paper, integrated photonic coupled ring resonator filters are considered as an example of significant interest. The sparsity structure in photonic circuits is exploited to construct a sparse combined generalized polynomial chaos model, which is then used to analyze related statistics and perform robust design optimization. Simulation results show that the optimized circuits are more robust to fabrication process variations and achieve a reduction of 11%–35% in the mean square errors of the 3 dB bandwidth compared to unoptimized nominal designs.

A Design Method of Robust Servo Internal Model Control with Control Input Saturation

OpenAIRE

山田, 功; 舩見, 洋祐

2001-01-01

In the present paper, we examine a design method of robust servo Internal Model Control with control input saturation. First of all, we clarify the condition that Internal Model Control has robust servo characteristics for the system with control input saturation. From this consideration, we propose new design method of Internal Model Control with robust servo characteristics. A numerical example to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method is shown.

Design and Validation of Optimized Feedforward with Robust Feedback Control of a Nuclear Reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shaffer, Roman; He Weidong; Edwards, Robert M.

2004-01-01

Design applications for robust feedback and optimized feedforward control, with confirming results from experiments conducted on the Pennsylvania State University TRIGA reactor, are presented. The combination of feedforward and feedback control techniques complement each other in that robust control offers guaranteed closed-loop stability in the presence of uncertainties, and optimized feedforward offers an approach to achieving performance that is sometimes limited by overly conservative robust feedback control. The design approach taken in this work combines these techniques by first designing robust feedback control. Alternative methods for specifying a low-order linear model and uncertainty specifications, while seeking as much performance as possible, are discussed and evaluated. To achieve desired performance characteristics, the optimized feedforward control is then computed by using the nominal nonlinear plant model that incorporates the robust feedback control

Hybrid Robust Optimization for the Design of a Smartphone Metal Frame Antenna

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sungwoo Lee

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Hybrid robust optimization that combines a genetical swarm optimization (GSO scheme with an orthogonal array (OA is proposed to design an antenna robust to the tolerances arising during the fabrication process of the antenna in this paper. An inverted-F antenna with a metal frame serves as an example to explain the procedure of the proposed method. GSO is adapted to determine the design variables of the antenna, which operates on the GSM850 band (824–894 MHz. The robustness of the antenna is evaluated through a noise test using the OA. The robustness of the optimized antenna is improved by approximately 61.3% relative to that of a conventional antenna. Conventional and optimized antennas are fabricated and measured to validate the experimental results.

The variation management framework (VMF): A unifying graphical representation of robust design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Howard, Thomas J.; Eifler, Tobias; Pedersen, Søren Nygaard

2017-01-01

In this article a framework for robust design and variation management is proposed by combining central models to Robust Design, namely, the Quality Loss Function, the Transfer Function, and the Domains of Axiomatic Design. The Variation Management Framework (VMF) shows how variation can be mapped...... from production variation right through to the quality loss perceived by the customer for a single characteristic chain. Seven levers which can be activated to increase product quality are described and positioned on the VMF and variation metrics are proposed....

Design optimization of a robust sleeve antenna for hepatic microwave ablation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prakash, Punit; Webster, John G; Deng Geng; Converse, Mark C; Mahvi, David M; Ferris, Michael C

2008-01-01

We describe the application of a Bayesian variable-number sample-path (VNSP) optimization algorithm to yield a robust design for a floating sleeve antenna for hepatic microwave ablation. Finite element models are used to generate the electromagnetic (EM) field and thermal distribution in liver given a particular design. Dielectric properties of the tissue are assumed to vary within ± 10% of average properties to simulate the variation among individuals. The Bayesian VNSP algorithm yields an optimal design that is a 14.3% improvement over the original design and is more robust in terms of lesion size, shape and efficiency. Moreover, the Bayesian VNSP algorithm finds an optimal solution saving 68.2% simulation of the evaluations compared to the standard sample-path optimization method

Robust Frequency-Domain Constrained Feedback Design via a Two-Stage Heuristic Approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xianwei; Gao, Huijun

2015-10-01

Based on a two-stage heuristic method, this paper is concerned with the design of robust feedback controllers with restricted frequency-domain specifications (RFDSs) for uncertain linear discrete-time systems. Polytopic uncertainties are assumed to enter all the system matrices, while RFDSs are motivated by the fact that practical design specifications are often described in restricted finite frequency ranges. Dilated multipliers are first introduced to relax the generalized Kalman-Yakubovich-Popov lemma for output feedback controller synthesis and robust performance analysis. Then a two-stage approach to output feedback controller synthesis is proposed: at the first stage, a robust full-information (FI) controller is designed, which is used to construct a required output feedback controller at the second stage. To improve the solvability of the synthesis method, heuristic iterative algorithms are further formulated for exploring the feedback gain and optimizing the initial FI controller at the individual stage. The effectiveness of the proposed design method is finally demonstrated by the application to active control of suspension systems.

Matlab as a robust control design tool

Science.gov (United States)

Gregory, Irene M.

1994-01-01

This presentation introduces Matlab as a tool used in flight control research. The example used to illustrate some of the capabilities of this software is a robust controller designed for a single stage to orbit air breathing vehicles's ascent to orbit. The global requirements of the controller are to stabilize the vehicle and follow a trajectory in the presence of atmospheric disturbances and strong dynamic coupling between airframe and propulsion.

Robust Transceiver Design for Multiuser MIMO Downlink with Channel Uncertainties

Science.gov (United States)

Miao, Wei; Li, Yunzhou; Chen, Xiang; Zhou, Shidong; Wang, Jing

This letter addresses the problem of robust transceiver design for the multiuser multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) downlink where the channel state information at the base station (BS) is imperfect. A stochastic approach which minimizes the expectation of the total mean square error (MSE) of the downlink conditioned on the channel estimates under a total transmit power constraint is adopted. The iterative algorithm reported in [2] is improved to handle the proposed robust optimization problem. Simulation results show that our proposed robust scheme effectively reduces the performance loss due to channel uncertainties and outperforms existing methods, especially when the channel errors of the users are different.

Robust chaotic control of Lorenz system by backstepping design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peng, C.-C.; Chen, C.-L.

2008-01-01

This work presents a robust chaotic control strategy for the Lorenz chaos via backstepping design. Backstepping technique is a systematic tool of control law design to provide Lyapunov stability. The concept of extended system is used such that a continuous sliding mode control (SMC) effort is generated using backstepping scheme. In the proposed control algorithm, an adaptation law is applied to estimate the system parameter and the SMC offers the robustness to model uncertainties and external disturbances so that the asymptotical convergence of tracking error can be achieved. Regarding the SMC, an equivalent control algorithm is chosen based on the selection of Lyapunov stability criterion during backstepping approach. The converging rate of error state is relative to the corresponding dynamics of sliding surface. Numerical simulations demonstrate its advantages to a regulation problem and an orbit tracking problem of the Lorenz chaos

COA based robust output feedback UPFC controller design

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shayeghi, H., E-mail: hshayeghi@gmail.co [Technical Engineering Department, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Shayanfar, H.A. [Center of Excellence for Power System Automation and Operation, Electrical Engineering Department, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Jalilzadeh, S.; Safari, A. [Technical Engineering Department, Zanjan University, Zanjan (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2010-12-15

In this paper, a novel method for the design of output feedback controller for unified power flow controller (UPFC) using chaotic optimization algorithm (COA) is developed. Chaotic optimization algorithms, which have the features of easy implementation, short execution time and robust mechanisms of escaping from the local optimum, is a promising tool for the engineering applications. The selection of the output feedback gains for the UPFC controllers is converted to an optimization problem with the time domain-based objective function which is solved by a COA based on Lozi map. Since chaotic mapping enjoys certainty, ergodicity and the stochastic property, the proposed chaotic optimization problem introduces chaos mapping using Lozi map chaotic sequences which increases its convergence rate and resulting precision. To ensure the robustness of the proposed stabilizers, the design process takes into account a wide range of operating conditions and system configurations. The effectiveness of the proposed controller for damping low frequency oscillations is tested and demonstrated through non-linear time-domain simulation and some performance indices studies. The results analysis reveals that the designed COA based output feedback UPFC damping controller has an excellent capability in damping power system low frequency oscillations and enhance greatly the dynamic stability of the power systems.

Design of uav robust autopilot based on adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohand Achour Touat

2008-04-01

Full Text Available  This paper is devoted to the application of adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference systems to the robust control of the UAV longitudinal motion. The adaptive neore-fuzzy inference system model needs to be trained by input/output data. This data were obtained from the modeling of a ”crisp” robust control system. The synthesis of this system is based on the separation theorem, which defines the structure and parameters of LQG-optimal controller, and further - robust optimization of this controller, based on the genetic algorithm. Such design procedure can define the rule base and parameters of fuzzyfication and defuzzyfication algorithms of the adaptive neore-fuzzy inference system controller, which ensure the robust properties of the control system. Simulation of the closed loop control system of UAV longitudinal motion with adaptive neore-fuzzy inference system controller demonstrates high efficiency of proposed design procedure.

What Can The Engineering for Climate Extremes Partnership Do For Global Resilience?

Science.gov (United States)

Bruyere, C. L.; Tye, M. R.; Holland, G. J.

2015-12-01

ECEP is an interdisciplinary partnership that brings together academia, industry, commerce, societal groups and government to develop robust, well-communicated predictions and advice on the impacts of weather and climate extremes using cutting-edge science. A feature of the partnership is the manner in which basic and applied research and development is conducted in direct collaboration with the end user. ECEP was formally launched at the AGU Fall Meeting in December 2014, and has gained rapid momentum in the subsequent year. Integral to the ECEP approach to resilience is the concept of 'Graceful Failure'. By acknowledging that all designs will fail at some level, and instead adopting flexible designs that combine engineering or network strengths with a plan for efficient, systematic failure and avoid delayed recovery. Such an approach enables optimal planning for both known and future scenarios, and their assessed uncertainty. This presentation will use the Boulder and North Colorado floods of September 2013 as a case study of how Graceful Failure improves resilience to extreme weather.

Set-Membership Identification for Robust Control Design

Science.gov (United States)

1993-04-28

Clauifica lion) ( U) Set-Memnbership Identification for Robust Control Design ___________________ 1. PERSONAL A UTHOR(SI Dr. Robert L. Kosul. Final Report...Shalom, E.Tse "Caution, probing, and the value of information in the control of un- certain systems", Annals of Economic and Social Measurement, 5/3, pp...knowing a bound on I the impulse response is quantitative. A similar clasoitication can be made regarding signal charateristics . Knowing that a signal is

Robust design of head interconnect for hard disk drive

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, X. K.; Liu, Q. H.; Liu, Z. J.

2005-05-01

Design of head interconnect is one of the important issues for hard disk drives with higher data rate and storage capacity. The impedance of interconnect and electromagnetic coupling influence the quality level of data communication. Thus an insightful study on how the trace configuration affects the impedance and crosstalk is necessary. An effective design approach based on Taguchi's robust design method is employed therefore in an attempt to realize impedance matching and crosstalk minimization with the effects of uncontrollable sources taken into consideration.

A preferential design approach for energy-efficient and robust implantable neural signal processing hardware.

Science.gov (United States)

Narasimhan, Seetharam; Chiel, Hillel J; Bhunia, Swarup

2009-01-01

For implantable neural interface applications, it is important to compress data and analyze spike patterns across multiple channels in real time. Such a computational task for online neural data processing requires an innovative circuit-architecture level design approach for low-power, robust and area-efficient hardware implementation. Conventional microprocessor or Digital Signal Processing (DSP) chips would dissipate too much power and are too large in size for an implantable system. In this paper, we propose a novel hardware design approach, referred to as "Preferential Design" that exploits the nature of the neural signal processing algorithm to achieve a low-voltage, robust and area-efficient implementation using nanoscale process technology. The basic idea is to isolate the critical components with respect to system performance and design them more conservatively compared to the noncritical ones. This allows aggressive voltage scaling for low power operation while ensuring robustness and area efficiency. We have applied the proposed approach to a neural signal processing algorithm using the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) and observed significant improvement in power and robustness over conventional design.

Robust Control Design via Linear Programming

Science.gov (United States)

Keel, L. H.; Bhattacharyya, S. P.

1998-01-01

This paper deals with the problem of synthesizing or designing a feedback controller of fixed dynamic order. The closed loop specifications considered here are given in terms of a target performance vector representing a desired set of closed loop transfer functions connecting various signals. In general these point targets are unattainable with a fixed order controller. By enlarging the target from a fixed point set to an interval set the solvability conditions with a fixed order controller are relaxed and a solution is more easily enabled. Results from the parametric robust control literature can be used to design the interval target family so that the performance deterioration is acceptable, even when plant uncertainty is present. It is shown that it is possible to devise a computationally simple linear programming approach that attempts to meet the desired closed loop specifications.

D-efficient or deficient? A robustness analysis of stated choice experimental designs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Walker, Joan L.; Wang, Yanqiao; Thorhauge, Mikkel

2017-01-01

-aided surveys that readily allow for large fractions. Further, the results in the literature are abstract in that there is no reference point (i.e., meaningful units) to provide clear insight on the magnitude of any issue. Our objective is to analyze the robustness of different designs within a typical stated...... of the prior parameters. The simple mode choice setting allows for insightful visualizations of the designs themselves and also an interpretable reference point (VOT) for the range in which each design is robust. Not surprisingly, the D-efficient design is most efficient in the region where the true population......, the random design (which is the easiest to generate) performs as well as any design, and it (as well as any design) will perform even better if data cleaning is done to remove choice tasks where one alternative dominates the other....

Robust decentralised PI based LFC design for time delay power systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bevrani, Hassan; Hiyama, Takashi

2008-01-01

In this paper, two robust decentralised proportional integral (PI) control designs are proposed for load frequency control (LFC) with communication delays. In both methodologies, the PI based LFC problem is reduced to a static output feedback (SOF) control synthesis for a multiple delay system. The first one is based on the optimal H ∞ control design using a linear matrix inequalities (LMI) technique. The second control design gives a suboptimal solution using a developed iterative linear matrix inequalities (ILMI) algorithm via the mixed H 2 /H ∞ control technique. The control strategies are suitable for LFC applications that usually employ PI control. The proposed control strategies are applied to a three control area power system with time delays and load disturbance to demonstrate their robustness

A Framework for the Application of Robust Design Methods and Tools

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Göhler, Simon Moritz; Howard, Thomas J.

2014-01-01

can deliver are not always clear. Expectations to the output are sometimes misleading and imply the incorrect utilization of tools. A categorization of tools, methods and techniques typically associated with robust design methodology in the literature is provided in this paper in terms of purpose...... and deliverables of the individual tool or method. The majority of tools aims for optimizing an existing design solution or give an indication of how robust a design is, which requires a somewhat settled design. Furthermore, the categorization presented in this paper shows a lack in the methodology for tools...... of the existing tools. When to apply, what tool or method, for which purpose can be concluded. The paper also contributes with a framework for researchers to derive a generic landscape or database for RDM build upon the main premises and deliverables of each method....

Green Power Partnership Eligible Organizations

Science.gov (United States)

The U.S. EPA's Green Power Partnership is a voluntary partnership program designed to reduce the environmental impact of electricity generation by promoting renewable energy. Many different types of organizations are eligible to become Partners.

Benefits of Green Power Partnership

Science.gov (United States)

The U.S. EPA's Green Power Partnership is a voluntary partnership program designed to reduce the environmental impact of electricity generation by promoting renewable energy. Learn about the benefits of becoming a Green Power Partner.

Robust parameter design for integrated circuit fabrication procedure with respect to categorical characteristic

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sohn, S.Y.

1999-01-01

We consider a robust parameter design of the process for forming contact windows in complementary metal-oxide semiconductor circuits. Robust design is often used to find the optimal levels of process conditions which would provide the output of consistent quality as close to a target value. In this paper, we analyze the results of the fractional factorial design of nine factors: mask dimension, viscosity, bake temperature, spin speed, bake time, aperture, exposure time, developing time, etch time, where the outcome of the experiment is measured in terms of a categorized window size with five categories. Random effect analysis is employed to model both the mean and variance of categorized window size as functions of some controllable factors as well as random errors. Empirical Bayes' procedures are then utilized to fit both the models, and to eventually find the robust design of CMOS circuit process by means of a Bootstrap resampling approach

Design of a Robust Stair Climbing Compliant Modular Robot to Tackle Overhang on Stairs

OpenAIRE

Bhole, Ajinkya; Turlapati, Sri Harsha; S, Rajashekhar V.; Dixit, Jay; Shah, Suril V.; Krishna, K Madhava

2016-01-01

This paper discusses the concept and parameter design of a Robust Stair Climbing Compliant Modular Robot, capable of tackling stairs with overhangs. Modifying the geometry of the periphery of the wheels of our robot helps in tackling overhangs. Along with establishing a concept design, robust design parameters are set to minimize performance variation. The Grey-based Taguchi Method is adopted for providing an optimal setting for the design parameters of the robot. The robot prototype is shown...

Designing a robust high-speed CMOS-MEMS capacitive humidity sensor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lazarus, N; Fedder, G K

2012-01-01

In our previous work (Lazarus and Fedder 2011 J. Micromech. Microeng. 21 0650281), we demonstrated a CMOS-MEMS capacitive humidity sensor with a 72% improvement in sensitivity over the highest previously integrated on a CMOS die. This paper explores a series of methods for creating a faster and more manufacturable high-sensitivity capacitive humidity sensor. These techniques include adding oxide pillars to hold the plates apart, spin coating polymer to allow sensors to be fabricated more cheaply, adding a polysilicon heater and etching away excess polymer in the release holes. In most cases a tradeoff was found between sensitivity and other factors such as response time or robustness. A robust high-speed sensor was designed with a sensitivity of 0.21% change in capacitance per per cent relative humidity, while dropping the response time constant from 70 to 4s. Although less sensitive than our design, the sensor remains 17% more sensitive than the most sensitive interdigitated designs successfully integrated with CMOS. (paper)

Robust state feedback controller design of STATCOM using chaotic optimization algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Safari Amin

2010-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a new design technique for the design of robust state feedback controller for static synchronous compensator (STATCOM using Chaotic Optimization Algorithm (COA is presented. The design is formulated as an optimization problem which is solved by the COA. Since chaotic planning enjoys reliability, ergodicity and stochastic feature, the proposed technique presents chaos mapping using Lozi map chaotic sequences which increases its convergence rate. To ensure the robustness of the proposed damping controller, the design process takes into account a wide range of operating conditions and system configurations. The simulation results reveal that the proposed controller has an excellent capability in damping power system low frequency oscillations and enhances greatly the dynamic stability of the power systems. Moreover, the system performance analysis under different operating conditions shows that the phase based controller is superior compare to the magnitude based controller.

Robustness-based evaluation of hydropower infrastructure design under climate change

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mehmet Ümit Taner

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The conventional tools of decision-making in water resources infrastructure planning have been developed for problems with well-characterized uncertainties and are ill-suited for problems involving climate nonstationarity. In the past 20 years, a predict-then-act-based approach to the incorporation of climate nonstationarity has been widely adopted in which the outputs of bias-corrected climate model projections are used to evaluate planning options. However, the ambiguous nature of results has often proved unsatisfying to decision makers. This paper presents the use of a bottom-up, decision scaling framework for the evaluation of water resources infrastructure design alternatives regarding their robustness to climate change and expected value of performance. The analysis begins with an assessment of the vulnerability of the alternative designs under a wide domain of systematically-generated plausible future climates and utilizes downscaled climate projections ex post to inform likelihoods within a risk-based evaluation. The outcomes under different project designs are compared by way of a set of decision criteria, including the performance under the most likely future, expected value of performance across all evaluated futures and robustness. The method is demonstrated for the design of a hydropower system in sub-Saharan Africa and is compared to the results that would be found using a GCM-based, scenario-led analysis. The results indicate that recommendations from the decision scaling analysis can be substantially different from the scenario-led approach, alleviate common shortcomings related to the use of climate projections in water resources planning, and produce recommendations that are more robust to future climate uncertainty.

Triple-Loop Learning in a Cross-Sector Partnership: The DC Central Kitchen Partnership

Science.gov (United States)

Ameli, Patrizia; Kayes, D. Christopher

2011-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to build on notions of a higher level of organizational learning to suggest another dimension: interorganizational learning that emerges in a cross-sector partnership. Design/methodology/approach: A case study was conducted with the DC Central Kitchen (DCCK) partnership with for-profit and governmental entities. Research…

Robust parameter design for integrated circuit fabrication procedure with respect to categorical characteristic

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sohn, S.Y

1999-12-01

We consider a robust parameter design of the process for forming contact windows in complementary metal-oxide semiconductor circuits. Robust design is often used to find the optimal levels of process conditions which would provide the output of consistent quality as close to a target value. In this paper, we analyze the results of the fractional factorial design of nine factors: mask dimension, viscosity, bake temperature, spin speed, bake time, aperture, exposure time, developing time, etch time, where the outcome of the experiment is measured in terms of a categorized window size with five categories. Random effect analysis is employed to model both the mean and variance of categorized window size as functions of some controllable factors as well as random errors. Empirical Bayes' procedures are then utilized to fit both the models, and to eventually find the robust design of CMOS circuit process by means of a Bootstrap resampling approach.

Robust synergetic control design under inputs and states constraints

Science.gov (United States)

Rastegar, Saeid; Araújo, Rui; Sadati, Jalil

2018-03-01

In this paper, a novel robust-constrained control methodology for discrete-time linear parameter-varying (DT-LPV) systems is proposed based on a synergetic control theory (SCT) approach. It is shown that in DT-LPV systems without uncertainty, and for any unmeasured bounded additive disturbance, the proposed controller accomplishes the goal of stabilising the system by asymptotically driving the error of the controlled variable to a bounded set containing the origin and then maintaining it there. Moreover, given an uncertain DT-LPV system jointly subject to unmeasured and constrained additive disturbances, and constraints in states, input commands and reference signals (set points), then invariant set theory is used to find an appropriate polyhedral robust invariant region in which the proposed control framework is guaranteed to robustly stabilise the closed-loop system. Furthermore, this is achieved even for the case of varying non-zero control set points in such uncertain DT-LPV systems. The controller is characterised to have a simple structure leading to an easy implementation, and a non-complex design process. The effectiveness of the proposed method and the implications of the controller design on feasibility and closed-loop performance are demonstrated through application examples on the temperature control on a continuous-stirred tank reactor plant, on the control of a real-coupled DC motor plant, and on an open-loop unstable system example.

A robust fractional-order PID controller design based on active queue management for TCP network

Science.gov (United States)

Hamidian, Hamideh; Beheshti, Mohammad T. H.

2018-01-01

In this paper, a robust fractional-order controller is designed to control the congestion in transmission control protocol (TCP) networks with time-varying parameters. Fractional controllers can increase the stability and robustness. Regardless of advantages of fractional controllers, they are still not common in congestion control in TCP networks. The network parameters are time-varying, so the robust stability is important in congestion controller design. Therefore, we focused on the robust controller design. The fractional PID controller is developed based on active queue management (AQM). D-partition technique is used. The most important property of designed controller is the robustness to the time-varying parameters of the TCP network. The vertex quasi-polynomials of the closed-loop characteristic equation are obtained, and the stability boundaries are calculated for each vertex quasi-polynomial. The intersection of all stability regions is insensitive to network parameter variations, and results in robust stability of TCP/AQM system. NS-2 simulations show that the proposed algorithm provides a stable queue length. Moreover, simulations show smaller oscillations of the queue length and less packet drop probability for FPID compared to PI and PID controllers. We can conclude from NS-2 simulations that the average packet loss probability variations are negligible when the network parameters change.

Multiobjective Robust Design of the Double Wishbone Suspension System Based on Particle Swarm Optimization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xianfu Cheng

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The performance of the suspension system is one of the most important factors in the vehicle design. For the double wishbone suspension system, the conventional deterministic optimization does not consider any deviations of design parameters, so design sensitivity analysis and robust optimization design are proposed. In this study, the design parameters of the robust optimization are the positions of the key points, and the random factors are the uncertainties in manufacturing. A simplified model of the double wishbone suspension is established by software ADAMS. The sensitivity analysis is utilized to determine main design variables. Then, the simulation experiment is arranged and the Latin hypercube design is adopted to find the initial points. The Kriging model is employed for fitting the mean and variance of the quality characteristics according to the simulation results. Further, a particle swarm optimization method based on simple PSO is applied and the tradeoff between the mean and deviation of performance is made to solve the robust optimization problem of the double wishbone suspension system.

Multiobjective Robust Design of the Double Wishbone Suspension System Based on Particle Swarm Optimization

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Yuqun

2014-01-01

The performance of the suspension system is one of the most important factors in the vehicle design. For the double wishbone suspension system, the conventional deterministic optimization does not consider any deviations of design parameters, so design sensitivity analysis and robust optimization design are proposed. In this study, the design parameters of the robust optimization are the positions of the key points, and the random factors are the uncertainties in manufacturing. A simplified model of the double wishbone suspension is established by software ADAMS. The sensitivity analysis is utilized to determine main design variables. Then, the simulation experiment is arranged and the Latin hypercube design is adopted to find the initial points. The Kriging model is employed for fitting the mean and variance of the quality characteristics according to the simulation results. Further, a particle swarm optimization method based on simple PSO is applied and the tradeoff between the mean and deviation of performance is made to solve the robust optimization problem of the double wishbone suspension system. PMID:24683334

Multiobjective robust design of the double wishbone suspension system based on particle swarm optimization.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Xianfu; Lin, Yuqun

2014-01-01

The performance of the suspension system is one of the most important factors in the vehicle design. For the double wishbone suspension system, the conventional deterministic optimization does not consider any deviations of design parameters, so design sensitivity analysis and robust optimization design are proposed. In this study, the design parameters of the robust optimization are the positions of the key points, and the random factors are the uncertainties in manufacturing. A simplified model of the double wishbone suspension is established by software ADAMS. The sensitivity analysis is utilized to determine main design variables. Then, the simulation experiment is arranged and the Latin hypercube design is adopted to find the initial points. The Kriging model is employed for fitting the mean and variance of the quality characteristics according to the simulation results. Further, a particle swarm optimization method based on simple PSO is applied and the tradeoff between the mean and deviation of performance is made to solve the robust optimization problem of the double wishbone suspension system.

Design and implementation of fixed-order robust controllers for a proton exchange membrane fuel cell system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Fu-Cheng; Chen, Hsuan-Tsung [Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Taiwan University, No.1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, 10617 Taipei (China)

2009-03-15

This paper applies fixed-order multivariable robust control strategies to a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system, and implements the designed controllers on a microchip for system miniaturization. In previous studies, robust control was applied to guarantee system stability and to reduce hydrogen consumption for a PEMFC system. It was noted that for standard robust control design, the order of resulting H{sub {infinity}} controllers is dictated by the plants and weighting functions. However, for hardware implementation, controllers with lower orders are preferable in terms of computing efforts and cost. Therefore, in this paper the PEMFC is modeled as multivariable transfer matrices, then three fixed-order robust control algorithms are applied to design controllers with specified orders for a PEMFC. Finally, the designed controllers are implemented on a microchip to regulate the air and hydrogen flow rates. From the experimental results, fixed-order robust control is deemed effective in supplying steady power and reducing fuel consumption. (author)

The robust corrective action priority-an improved approach for selecting competing corrective actions in FMEA based on principle of robust design

Science.gov (United States)

Sutrisno, Agung; Gunawan, Indra; Vanany, Iwan

2017-11-01

In spite of being integral part in risk - based quality improvement effort, studies improving quality of selection of corrective action priority using FMEA technique are still limited in literature. If any, none is considering robustness and risk in selecting competing improvement initiatives. This study proposed a theoretical model to select risk - based competing corrective action by considering robustness and risk of competing corrective actions. We incorporated the principle of robust design in counting the preference score among corrective action candidates. Along with considering cost and benefit of competing corrective actions, we also incorporate the risk and robustness of corrective actions. An example is provided to represent the applicability of the proposed model.

A robust controller design method for feedback substitution schemes using genetic algorithms

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Trujillo, Mirsha M; Hadjiloucas, Sillas; Becerra, Victor M, E-mail: s.hadjiloucas@reading.ac.uk [Cybernetics, School of Systems Engineering, University of Reading, RG6 6AY (United Kingdom)

2011-08-17

Controllers for feedback substitution schemes demonstrate a trade-off between noise power gain and normalized response time. Using as an example the design of a controller for a radiometric transduction process subjected to arbitrary noise power gain and robustness constraints, a Pareto-front of optimal controller solutions fulfilling a range of time-domain design objectives can be derived. In this work, we consider designs using a loop shaping design procedure (LSDP). The approach uses linear matrix inequalities to specify a range of objectives and a genetic algorithm (GA) to perform a multi-objective optimization for the controller weights (MOGA). A clonal selection algorithm is used to further provide a directed search of the GA towards the Pareto front. We demonstrate that with the proposed methodology, it is possible to design higher order controllers with superior performance in terms of response time, noise power gain and robustness.

Graceful Failure, Engineering, and Planning for Extremes: The Engineering for Climate Extremes Partnership (ECEP)

Science.gov (United States)

Bruyere, C. L.; Tye, M. R.; Holland, G. J.; Done, J.

2015-12-01

Graceful failure acknowledges that all systems will fail at some level and incorporates the potential for failure as a key component of engineering design, community planning, and the associated research and development. This is a fundamental component of the ECEP, an interdisciplinary partnership bringing together scientific, engineering, cultural, business and government expertise to develop robust, well-communicated predictions and advice on the impacts of weather and climate extremes in support of decision-making. A feature of the partnership is the manner in which basic and applied research and development is conducted in direct collaboration with the end user. A major ECEP focus is the Global Risk and Resilience Toolbox (GRRT) that is aimed at developing public-domain, risk-modeling and response data and planning system in support of engineering design, and community planning and adaptation activities. In this presentation I will outline the overall ECEP and GRIP activities, and expand on the 'graceful failure' concept. Specific examples for direct assessment and prediction of hurricane impacts and damage potential will be included.

Robust experiment design for estimating myocardial β adrenergic receptor concentration using PET

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salinas, Cristian; Muzic, Raymond F. Jr.; Ernsberger, Paul; Saidel, Gerald M.

2007-01-01

Myocardial β adrenergic receptor (β-AR) concentration can substantially decrease in congestive heart failure and significantly increase in chronic volume overload, such as in severe aortic valve regurgitation. Positron emission tomography (PET) with an appropriate ligand-receptor model can be used for noninvasive estimation of myocardial β-AR concentration in vivo. An optimal design of the experiment protocol, however, is needed for sufficiently precise estimates of β-AR concentration in a heterogeneous population. Standard methods of optimal design do not account for a heterogeneous population with a wide range of β-AR concentrations and other physiological parameters and consequently are inadequate. To address this, we have developed a methodology to design a robust two-injection protocol that provides reliable estimates of myocardial β-AR concentration in normal and pathologic states. A two-injection protocol of the high affinity β-AR antagonist [ 18 F]-(S)-fluorocarazolol was designed based on a computer-generated (or synthetic) population incorporating a wide range of β-AR concentrations. Timing and dosage of the ligand injections were optimally designed with minimax criterion to provide the least bad β-AR estimates for the worst case in the synthetic population. This robust experiment design for PET was applied to experiments with pigs before and after β-AR upregulation by chemical sympathectomy. Estimates of β-AR concentration were found by minimizing the difference between the model-predicted and experimental PET data. With this robust protocol, estimates of β-AR concentration showed high precision in both normal and pathologic states. The increase in β-AR concentration after sympathectomy predicted noninvasively with PET is consistent with the increase shown by in vitro assays in pig myocardium. A robust experiment protocol was designed for PET that yields reliable estimates of β-AR concentration in a population with normal and pathologic

Robust, nonlinear, high angle-of-attack control design for a supermaneuverable vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, Richard J.

1993-01-01

High angle-of-attack flight control laws are developed for a supermaneuverable fighter aircraft. The methods of dynamic inversion and structured singular value synthesis are combined into an approach which addresses both the nonlinearity and robustness problems of flight at extreme operating conditions. The primary purpose of the dynamic inversion control elements is to linearize the vehicle response across the flight envelope. Structured singular value synthesis is used to design a dynamic controller which provides robust tracking to pilot commands. The resulting control system achieves desired flying qualities and guarantees a large margin of robustness to uncertainties for high angle-of-attack flight conditions. The results of linear simulation and structured singular value stability analysis are presented to demonstrate satisfaction of the design criteria. High fidelity nonlinear simulation results show that the combined dynamics inversion/structured singular value synthesis control law achieves a high level of performance in a realistic environment.

Design of Robust Adaptive Array Processors for Non-Stationary Ocean Environments

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Wage, Kathleen E

2009-01-01

The overall goal of this project is to design adaptive array processing algorithms that have good transient performance, are robust to mismatch, work with low sample support, and incorporate waveguide...

The Engineering for Climate Extremes Partnership

Science.gov (United States)

Holland, G. J.; Tye, M. R.

2014-12-01

Hurricane Sandy and the recent floods in Thailand have demonstrated not only how sensitive the urban environment is to the impact of severe weather, but also the associated global reach of the ramifications. These, together with other growing extreme weather impacts and the increasing interdependence of global commercial activities point towards a growing vulnerability to weather and climate extremes. The Engineering for Climate Extremes Partnership brings academia, industry and government together with the goals encouraging joint activities aimed at developing new, robust, and well-communicated responses to this increasing vulnerability. Integral to the approach is the concept of 'graceful failure' in which flexible designs are adopted that protect against failure by combining engineering or network strengths with a plan for efficient and rapid recovery if and when they fail. Such an approach enables optimal planning for both known future scenarios and their assessed uncertainty.

Enhancing product robustness in reliability-based design optimization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhuang, Xiaotian; Pan, Rong; Du, Xiaoping

2015-01-01

Different types of uncertainties need to be addressed in a product design optimization process. In this paper, the uncertainties in both product design variables and environmental noise variables are considered. The reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) is integrated with robust product design (RPD) to concurrently reduce the production cost and the long-term operation cost, including quality loss, in the process of product design. This problem leads to a multi-objective optimization with probabilistic constraints. In addition, the model uncertainties associated with a surrogate model that is derived from numerical computation methods, such as finite element analysis, is addressed. A hierarchical experimental design approach, augmented by a sequential sampling strategy, is proposed to construct the response surface of product performance function for finding optimal design solutions. The proposed method is demonstrated through an engineering example. - Highlights: • A unifying framework for integrating RBDO and RPD is proposed. • Implicit product performance function is considered. • The design problem is solved by sequential optimization and reliability assessment. • A sequential sampling technique is developed for improving design optimization. • The comparison with traditional RBDO is provided

Robust Path Planning and Feedback Design Under Stochastic Uncertainty

Science.gov (United States)

Blackmore, Lars

2008-01-01

Autonomous vehicles require optimal path planning algorithms to achieve mission goals while avoiding obstacles and being robust to uncertainties. The uncertainties arise from exogenous disturbances, modeling errors, and sensor noise, which can be characterized via stochastic models. Previous work defined a notion of robustness in a stochastic setting by using the concept of chance constraints. This requires that mission constraint violation can occur with a probability less than a prescribed value.In this paper we describe a novel method for optimal chance constrained path planning with feedback design. The approach optimizes both the reference trajectory to be followed and the feedback controller used to reject uncertainty. Our method extends recent results in constrained control synthesis based on convex optimization to solve control problems with nonconvex constraints. This extension is essential for path planning problems, which inherently have nonconvex obstacle avoidance constraints. Unlike previous approaches to chance constrained path planning, the new approach optimizes the feedback gain as wellas the reference trajectory.The key idea is to couple a fast, nonconvex solver that does not take into account uncertainty, with existing robust approaches that apply only to convex feasible regions. By alternating between robust and nonrobust solutions, the new algorithm guarantees convergence to a global optimum. We apply the new method to an unmanned aircraft and show simulation results that demonstrate the efficacy of the approach.

Robust Transceivers Design for Multi-stream Multi-user MIMO Visible Light Communication

KAUST Repository

Sifaou, Houssem

2017-11-27

Visible light communication (VLC) is an emerging technique that uses light-emitting diodes to combine communication and illumination. It is considered as a promising scheme for indoor wireless communication that can be deployed at reduced costs, while offering high data rate performance. This paper focuses on the design of precoding and receiving schemes for downlink multi-user multiple-input multiple-output VLC systems using angle diversity receivers. Two major concerns need to be considered while solving such a problem. The first one is related to the inter-user interference, basically inherent to our consideration of a multi-user system, while the second results from the users’ mobility, causing imperfect channel estimates. To address both concerns, we propose robust precoding and receiver that solve the max-min SINR problem. The performance of the proposed VLC design is studied under different working conditions, where a significant gain of the proposed robust transceivers over their non-robust counterparts has been observed.

Robust Transceivers Design for Multi-stream Multi-user MIMO Visible Light Communication

KAUST Repository

Sifaou, Houssem; Kammoun, Abla; Park, Kihong; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

2017-01-01

Visible light communication (VLC) is an emerging technique that uses light-emitting diodes to combine communication and illumination. It is considered as a promising scheme for indoor wireless communication that can be deployed at reduced costs, while offering high data rate performance. This paper focuses on the design of precoding and receiving schemes for downlink multi-user multiple-input multiple-output VLC systems using angle diversity receivers. Two major concerns need to be considered while solving such a problem. The first one is related to the inter-user interference, basically inherent to our consideration of a multi-user system, while the second results from the users’ mobility, causing imperfect channel estimates. To address both concerns, we propose robust precoding and receiver that solve the max-min SINR problem. The performance of the proposed VLC design is studied under different working conditions, where a significant gain of the proposed robust transceivers over their non-robust counterparts has been observed.

The use of singular value gradients and optimization techniques to design robust controllers for multiloop systems

Science.gov (United States)

Newsom, J. R.; Mukhopadhyay, V.

1983-01-01

A method for designing robust feedback controllers for multiloop systems is presented. Robustness is characterized in terms of the minimum singular value of the system return difference matrix at the plant input. Analytical gradients of the singular values with respect to design variables in the controller are derived. A cumulative measure of the singular values and their gradients with respect to the design variables is used with a numerical optimization technique to increase the system's robustness. Both unconstrained and constrained optimization techniques are evaluated. Numerical results are presented for a two output drone flight control system.

Passivity-based design of robust passive damping for LCL-filtered voltage source converters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wang, Xiongfei; Blaabjerg, Frede; Loh, Poh Chiang

2015-01-01

Passive damping is proven as a robust stabilizing technique for LCL-filtered voltage source converters. However, conventional design methods of passive dampers are based on the passive components only, while the inherent damping effect of time delay in the digital control system is overlooked....... In this paper, a frequency-domain passivity-based design approach is proposed, where the passive dampers are designed to eliminate the negative real part of the converter output admittance with closed-loop current control, rather than shaping the LCL-filter itself. Thus, the influence of time delay...... in the current control is included, which allows a relaxed design of the passive damper with the reduced power loss and improved stability robustness against grid parameters variations. Design procedures of two commonly used passive dampers with LCL-filtered VSCs are illustrated. Experimental results validate...

The evolution of an academic-community partnership in the design, implementation, and evaluation of experience corps® Baltimore city: a courtship model.

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Erwin J; McGill, Sylvia; Tanner, Elizabeth K; Carlson, Michelle C; Rebok, George W; Seeman, Teresa E; Fried, Linda P

2014-04-01

Experience Corps Baltimore City (EC) is a product of a partnership between the Greater Homewood Community Corporation (GHCC) and the Johns Hopkins Center on Aging and Health (COAH) that began in 1998. EC recruits volunteers aged 55 and older into high-impact mentoring and tutoring roles in public elementary schools that are designed to also benefit the volunteers. We describe the evolution of the GHCC-COAH partnership through the "Courtship Model." We describe how community-based participatory research principals, such as shared governance, were applied at the following stages: (1) partner selection, (2) getting serious, (3) commitment, and (4) leaving a legacy. EC could not have achieved its current level of success without academic-community partnership. In early stages of the "Courtship Model," GHCC and COAH were able to rely on the trust developed between the leadership of the partner organizations. Competing missions from different community and academic funders led to tension in later stages of the "Courtship Model" and necessitated a formal Memorandum of Understanding between the partners as they embarked on a randomized controlled trial. The GHCC-COAH partnership demonstrates how academic-community partnerships can serve as an engine for social innovation. The partnership could serve as a model for other communities seeking multiple funding sources to implement similar public health interventions that are based on national service models. Unified funding mechanisms would assist the formation of academic-community partnerships that could support the design, implementation, and the evaluation of community-based public health interventions.

Synchronization of a class of chaotic signals via robust observer design

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aguilar-Lopez, Ricardo [Departamento de Energia, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana - Azcapotzalco, San Pablo 180, Reynosa-Tamaulipas, Azcapotzalco 02200, Mexico, D.F. (Mexico)], E-mail: raguilar@correo.azc.uam.mx; Martinez-Guerra, Rafael [Departamento de Energia, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana - Azcapotzalco, San Pablo 180, Reynosa-Tamaulipas, Azcapotzalco 02200, Mexico, D.F. (Mexico); Departamento de Control Automatico, CINVESTAV IPN, Apartado Postal 14-740, Mexico, D.F. C.P. 07360 (Mexico)], E-mail: rguerra@ctrl.cinvestav.mx

2008-07-15

In this paper the signal synchronization of a class of chaotic systems based on robust observer design is tackled. The task is the synchronization of the signals generated by two Chen oscillators with different initial condition. The proposed observer is robust against model uncertainties and noisy output measurements. An alternative system representation is proposed to transform the measured disturbance onto system disturbance, which leads a more adequate observer structure. The proposed methodology contains an uncertainty estimator based on the predictive contribution to infer the unobservable uncertainties and corrective contribution to estimate the observable uncertainties; which provides robustness against noisy measurements and model uncertainties. Convergence analysis of the proposed estimation methodology is realized, analyzing the dynamic equation of the estimation error, where asymptotic convergence is shown. Numerical experiments illustrate the good performance of the proposed methodology.

Synchronization of a class of chaotic signals via robust observer design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aguilar-Lopez, Ricardo; Martinez-Guerra, Rafael

2008-01-01

In this paper the signal synchronization of a class of chaotic systems based on robust observer design is tackled. The task is the synchronization of the signals generated by two Chen oscillators with different initial condition. The proposed observer is robust against model uncertainties and noisy output measurements. An alternative system representation is proposed to transform the measured disturbance onto system disturbance, which leads a more adequate observer structure. The proposed methodology contains an uncertainty estimator based on the predictive contribution to infer the unobservable uncertainties and corrective contribution to estimate the observable uncertainties; which provides robustness against noisy measurements and model uncertainties. Convergence analysis of the proposed estimation methodology is realized, analyzing the dynamic equation of the estimation error, where asymptotic convergence is shown. Numerical experiments illustrate the good performance of the proposed methodology

Global partnerships: Expanding the frontiers of space exploration education

Science.gov (United States)

MacLeish, Marlene Y.; Akinyede, Joseph O.; Goswami, Nandu; Thomson, William A.

2012-11-01

Globalization is creating an interdependent space-faring world and new opportunities for international partnerships that strengthen space knowledge development and transfer. These opportunities have been codified in the Global Exploration Strategy, which endorses the "inspirational and educational value of space exploration" [1]. Also, during the 2010 Heads of Space Agencies Summit celebrating the International Academy of Astronautics' (IAA) 50th Anniversary, space-faring nations from across the globe issued a collective call in support of robust international partnerships to expand the frontiers of space exploration and generate knowledge for improving life on Earth [2]. Educators play a unique role in this mission, developing strategic partnerships and sharing best educational practices to (1) further global understanding of the benefits of space exploration for life on Earth and (2) prepare the next generation of scientists required for the 21st Century space workforce. Educational Outreach (EO) programs use evidence-based, measurable outcomes strategies and cutting edge information technologies to transfer space-based science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) knowledge to new audiences; create indigenous materials with cultural resonance for emerging space societies; support teacher professional development; and contribute to workforce development initiatives that inspire and prepare new cohorts of students for space exploration careers. The National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) have sustained a 13-year space science education partnership dedicated to these objectives. This paper briefly describes the design and achievements of NSBRI's educational programs, with special emphasis on those initiatives' involvement with IAA and the International Astronautical Congress (IAC). The IAA Commission 2 Draft Report, Space for Africa, is discussed

The Partnership Bill 2003: unnecessary tinkering or much-needed reform?

OpenAIRE

Berry, E

2005-01-01

Purpose - To examine the nature and merits of the proposed changes to partnership law contained in the draft Partnership Bill published in the Law Commission's Partnership Law Report (2003). Design/methodology/approach - Sets out how the proposed Bill differs from the current law of partnership (contained in the Partnership Act 1890 and the Limited Partnerships Act 1907), looking at the definition of 'partnership', the introduction of separate legal personality, the provisions governing partn...

Robust Trajectory Design in Highly Perturbed Environments Leveraging Continuation Methods, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Research is proposed to investigate continuation methods to improve the robustness of trajectory design algorithms for spacecraft in highly perturbed dynamical...

Hierarchical modeling and robust synthesis for the preliminary design of large scale complex systems

Science.gov (United States)

Koch, Patrick Nathan

Large-scale complex systems are characterized by multiple interacting subsystems and the analysis of multiple disciplines. The design and development of such systems inevitably requires the resolution of multiple conflicting objectives. The size of complex systems, however, prohibits the development of comprehensive system models, and thus these systems must be partitioned into their constituent parts. Because simultaneous solution of individual subsystem models is often not manageable iteration is inevitable and often excessive. In this dissertation these issues are addressed through the development of a method for hierarchical robust preliminary design exploration to facilitate concurrent system and subsystem design exploration, for the concurrent generation of robust system and subsystem specifications for the preliminary design of multi-level, multi-objective, large-scale complex systems. This method is developed through the integration and expansion of current design techniques: (1) Hierarchical partitioning and modeling techniques for partitioning large-scale complex systems into more tractable parts, and allowing integration of subproblems for system synthesis, (2) Statistical experimentation and approximation techniques for increasing both the efficiency and the comprehensiveness of preliminary design exploration, and (3) Noise modeling techniques for implementing robust preliminary design when approximate models are employed. The method developed and associated approaches are illustrated through their application to the preliminary design of a commercial turbofan turbine propulsion system; the turbofan system-level problem is partitioned into engine cycle and configuration design and a compressor module is integrated for more detailed subsystem-level design exploration, improving system evaluation.

Reconfigurable Flight Control Design using a Robust Servo LQR and Radial Basis Function Neural Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Burken, John J.

2005-01-01

This viewgraph presentation reviews the use of a Robust Servo Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) and a Radial Basis Function (RBF) Neural Network in reconfigurable flight control designs in adaptation to a aircraft part failure. The method uses a robust LQR servomechanism design with model Reference adaptive control, and RBF neural networks. During the failure the LQR servomechanism behaved well, and using the neural networks improved the tracking.

The Use of Treatment Concurrences to Assess Robustness of Binary Block Designs Against the Loss of Whole Blocks

OpenAIRE

Godolphin, JD; Godolphin, EJ

2015-01-01

© 2015 Australian Statistical Publishing Association Inc. Criteria are proposed for assessing the robustness of a binary block design against the loss of whole blocks, based on summing entries of selected upper non-principal sections of the concurrence matrix. These criteria improve on the minimal concurrence concept that has been used previously and provide new conditions for measuring the robustness status of a design. The robustness properties of two-associate partially balanced designs ar...

A hybrid multi-objective imperialist competitive algorithm and Monte Carlo method for robust safety design of a rail vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Nejlaoui, Mohamed; Houidi, Ajmi; Affi, Zouhaier; Romdhane, Lotfi

2017-10-01

This paper deals with the robust safety design optimization of a rail vehicle system moving in short radius curved tracks. A combined multi-objective imperialist competitive algorithm and Monte Carlo method is developed and used for the robust multi-objective optimization of the rail vehicle system. This robust optimization of rail vehicle safety considers simultaneously the derailment angle and its standard deviation where the design parameters uncertainties are considered. The obtained results showed that the robust design reduces significantly the sensitivity of the rail vehicle safety to the design parameters uncertainties compared to the determinist one and to the literature results.

Robust broadband nanopositioning: fundamental trade-offs, analysis, and design in a two-degree-of-freedom control framework

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Chibum; Salapaka, Srinivasa M

2009-01-01

This paper studies and analyses fundamental trade-offs between positioning resolution, tracking bandwidth, and robustness to modeling uncertainties in two-degree-of-freedom (2DOF) control designs for nanopositioning systems. The analysis of these systems is done in optimal control setting with various architectural constraints imposed on the 2DOF framework. In terms of these trade-offs, our analysis shows that the primary role of feedback is providing robustness to the closed-loop device whereas the feedforward component is mainly effective in overcoming fundamental algebraic constraints that limit the feedback-only designs. This paper presents (1) an optimal prefilter model matching design for a system with an existing feedback controller, (2) a simultaneous feedforward and feedback control design in an optimal mixed sensitivity framework, and (3) a 2DOF optimal robust model matching design. The experimental results on applying these controllers show a significant improvement, as high as 330% increase in bandwidth for similar robustness and resolution over optimal feedback-only designs. Other performance objectives can be improved similarly. We demonstrate that the 2DOF freedom design achieves performance specifications that are analytically impossible for feedback-only designs.

Robust optimum design with maximum entropy method; Saidai entropy ho mochiita robust sei saitekika sekkeiho

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kawaguchi, K; Egashira, Y; Watanabe, G [Mazda Motor Corp., Hiroshima (Japan)

1997-10-01

Vehicle and unit performance change according to not only external causes represented by the environment such as temperature or weather, but also internal causes which are dispersion of component characteristics and manufacturing processes or aged deteriorations. We developed the design method to estimate thus performance distributions with maximum entropy method and to calculate specifications with high performance robustness using Fuzzy theory. This paper describes the details of these methods and examples applied to power window system. 3 refs., 7 figs., 4 tabs.

Urban Waters Partnership

Science.gov (United States)

Includes information on 14 Federal member agencies for the Urban Waters Federal Partnership and 19 designated urban waters locations and the local stakeholder groups and activities. Content was formerly at www.epa.gov/urbanwaters/

A diagnostic evaluation model for complex research partnerships with community engagement: the partnership for Native American Cancer Prevention (NACP) model.

Science.gov (United States)

Trotter, Robert T; Laurila, Kelly; Alberts, David; Huenneke, Laura F

2015-02-01

Complex community oriented health care prevention and intervention partnerships fail or only partially succeed at alarming rates. In light of the current rapid expansion of critically needed programs targeted at health disparities in minority populations, we have designed and are testing an "logic model plus" evaluation model that combines classic logic model and query based evaluation designs (CDC, NIH, Kellogg Foundation) with advances in community engaged designs derived from industry-university partnership models. These approaches support the application of a "near real time" feedback system (diagnosis and intervention) based on organizational theory, social network theory, and logic model metrics directed at partnership dynamics, combined with logic model metrics. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Designing a Robust Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion Controller for Spacecraft Formation Flying

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Inseok Yang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The robust nonlinear dynamic inversion (RNDI control technique is proposed to keep the relative position of spacecrafts while formation flying. The proposed RNDI control method is based on nonlinear dynamic inversion (NDI. NDI is nonlinear control method that replaces the original dynamics into the user-selected desired dynamics. Because NDI removes nonlinearities in the model by inverting the original dynamics directly, it also eliminates the need of designing suitable controllers for each equilibrium point; that is, NDI works as self-scheduled controller. Removing the original model also provides advantages of ease to satisfy the specific requirements by simply handling desired dynamics. Therefore, NDI is simple and has many similarities to classical control. In real applications, however, it is difficult to achieve perfect cancellation of the original dynamics due to uncertainties that lead to performance degradation and even make the system unstable. This paper proposes robustness assurance method for NDI. The proposed RNDI is designed by combining NDI and sliding mode control (SMC. SMC is inherently robust using high-speed switching inputs. This paper verifies similarities of NDI and SMC, firstly. And then RNDI control method is proposed. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated by simulations applied to spacecraft formation flying problem.

A Data-Driven Frequency-Domain Approach for Robust Controller Design via Convex Optimization

CERN Document Server

AUTHOR|(CDS)2092751; Martino, Michele

The objective of this dissertation is to develop data-driven frequency-domain methods for designing robust controllers through the use of convex optimization algorithms. Many of today's industrial processes are becoming more complex, and modeling accurate physical models for these plants using first principles may be impossible. Albeit a model may be available; however, such a model may be too complex to consider for an appropriate controller design. With the increased developments in the computing world, large amounts of measured data can be easily collected and stored for processing purposes. Data can also be collected and used in an on-line fashion. Thus it would be very sensible to make full use of this data for controller design, performance evaluation, and stability analysis. The design methods imposed in this work ensure that the dynamics of a system are captured in an experiment and avoids the problem of unmodeled dynamics associated with parametric models. The devised methods consider robust designs...

Robust Optimal Design of Quantum Electronic Devices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ociel Morales

2018-01-01

Full Text Available We consider the optimal design of a sequence of quantum barriers, in order to manufacture an electronic device at the nanoscale such that the dependence of its transmission coefficient on the bias voltage is linear. The technique presented here is easily adaptable to other response characteristics. There are two distinguishing features of our approach. First, the transmission coefficient is determined using a semiclassical approximation, so we can explicitly compute the gradient of the objective function. Second, in contrast with earlier treatments, manufacturing uncertainties are incorporated in the model through random variables; the optimal design problem is formulated in a probabilistic setting and then solved using a stochastic collocation method. As a measure of robustness, a weighted sum of the expectation and the variance of a least-squares performance metric is considered. Several simulations illustrate the proposed technique, which shows an improvement in accuracy over 69% with respect to brute-force, Monte-Carlo-based methods.

National Clean Fleets Partnership (Fact Sheet)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None, None

2014-01-01

Clean Cities' National Clean Fleets Partnership establishes strategic alliances with large fleets to help them explore and adopt alternative fuels and fuel economy measures to cut petroleum use. The initiative leverages the strength of nearly 100 Clean Cities coalitions, nearly 18,000 stakeholders, and more than 20 years of experience. It provides fleets with top-level support, technical assistance, robust tools and resources, and public acknowledgement to help meet and celebrate fleets' petroleum-use reductions.

Robust design optimization method for centrifugal impellers under surface roughness uncertainties due to blade fouling

Science.gov (United States)

Ju, Yaping; Zhang, Chuhua

2016-03-01

Blade fouling has been proved to be a great threat to compressor performance in operating stage. The current researches on fouling-induced performance degradations of centrifugal compressors are based mainly on simplified roughness models without taking into account the realistic factors such as spatial non-uniformity and randomness of the fouling-induced surface roughness. Moreover, little attention has been paid to the robust design optimization of centrifugal compressor impellers with considerations of blade fouling. In this paper, a multi-objective robust design optimization method is developed for centrifugal impellers under surface roughness uncertainties due to blade fouling. A three-dimensional surface roughness map is proposed to describe the nonuniformity and randomness of realistic fouling accumulations on blades. To lower computational cost in robust design optimization, the support vector regression (SVR) metamodel is combined with the Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) method to conduct the uncertainty analysis of fouled impeller performance. The analyzed results show that the critical fouled region associated with impeller performance degradations lies at the leading edge of blade tip. The SVR metamodel has been proved to be an efficient and accurate means in the detection of impeller performance variations caused by roughness uncertainties. After design optimization, the robust optimal design is found to be more efficient and less sensitive to fouling uncertainties while maintaining good impeller performance in the clean condition. This research proposes a systematic design optimization method for centrifugal compressors with considerations of blade fouling, providing a practical guidance to the design of advanced centrifugal compressors.

Estimating open population site occupancy from presence-absence data lacking the robust design.

Science.gov (United States)

Dail, D; Madsen, L

2013-03-01

Many animal monitoring studies seek to estimate the proportion of a study area occupied by a target population. The study area is divided into spatially distinct sites where the detected presence or absence of the population is recorded, and this is repeated in time for multiple seasons. However, when occupied sites are detected with probability p Ecology 84, 2200-2207) developed a multiseason model for estimating seasonal site occupancy (ψt ) while accounting for unknown p. Their model performs well when observations are collected according to the robust design, where multiple sampling occasions occur during each season; the repeated sampling aids in the estimation p. However, their model does not perform as well when the robust design is lacking. In this paper, we propose an alternative likelihood model that yields improved seasonal estimates of p and Ψt in the absence of the robust design. We construct the marginal likelihood of the observed data by conditioning on, and summing out, the latent number of occupied sites during each season. A simulation study shows that in cases without the robust design, the proposed model estimates p with less bias than the MacKenzie et al. model and hence improves the estimates of Ψt . We apply both models to a data set consisting of repeated presence-absence observations of American robins (Turdus migratorius) with yearly survey periods. The two models are compared to a third estimator available when the repeated counts (from the same study) are considered, with the proposed model yielding estimates of Ψt closest to estimates from the point count model. Copyright © 2013, The International Biometric Society.

A robust helium-cooled shield/blanket design for ITER

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wong, C.P.C.; Bourque, R.F.; Baxi, C.B.

1993-11-01

General Atomics Fusion and Reactor Groups have completed a helium-cooled, conceptual shield/blanket design for ITER. The configuration selected is a pressurized tubes design embedded in radially oriented plates. This plate can be made from ferritic steel or from V-alloy. Helium leakage to the plasma chamber is eliminated by conservative, redundant design and proper quality control and inspection programs. High helium pressure at 18 MPa is used to reduce pressure drop and enhance heat transfer. This high gas pressure is believed practical when confined in small diameter tubes. Ample industrial experience exists for safe high gas pressure operations. Inboard shield design is highlighted in this study since the allowable void fraction is more limited. Lithium is used as the thermal contacting medium and for tritium breeding, its safety concerns are minimized by a modular, low inventory design that requires no circulation of the liquid metal for the purpose of heat removal. This design is robust, conservative, reliable, and meets all design goals and requirements. It can also be built with present-day technology

Building Partnerships by Design or by Default?

Science.gov (United States)

2012-05-24

Florida Incursions 1810- 1819 ................................................................................ 10  Spanish-American War 1898-1901...Department of Defense, QDR Execution Roadmap Building Partnership Capacity Report (Washington DC: Department of Defense, 22 May 2006), 4. 1...weapons, making total war between these nations certain suicide for the aggressor and attacked alike. What is required, to avoid war with China for

Designing Robustness to Temperature in a Feedforward Loop Circuit

OpenAIRE

Sen, Shaunak; Kim, Jongmin; Murray, Richard M.

2013-01-01

Incoherent feedforward loops represent important biomolecular circuit elements capable of a rich set of dynamic behavior including adaptation and pulsed responses. Temperature can modulate some of these properties through its effect on the underlying reaction rate parameters. It is generally unclear how to design such a circuit where the properties are robust to variations in temperature. Here, we address this issue using a combination of tools from control and dynamical systems theory as wel...

Robust nonlinear control design with application to a marine cooling system

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Michael; Stoustrup, Jakob; Bendtsen, Jan Dimon

2012-01-01

. In this context, we apply a bilinear transformation to obtain a well-posed H-inf problem. The design procedure is applied to a marine cooling system with flow dependent delays and performance of the resulting control design is evaluated through a simulation example where a comparison is made to a linear control......In this paper we consider design of control laws for a class of nonlinear systems with time-varying state delays by use of principles from feedback linearization. To deal with model uncertainties and delay mismatches, a robust linear H-inf controller is designed for the feedback linearized system...

Robust Design of Terminal ILC with H∞ Mixed Sensitivity Approach for a Thermoforming Oven

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guy Gauthier

2008-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a robust design approach for terminal iterative learning control (TILC. This robust design uses the H∞ mixed-sensitivity technique. An industrial application is described where TILC is used to control the reheat phase of plastic sheets in a thermoforming oven. The TILC adjusts the heater temperature setpoints such that, at the end of the reheat cycle, the surface temperature map of the plastic sheet will converge to the desired one. Simulation results are included to show the effectiveness of the control law.

A New Robust Tracking Control Design for Turbofan Engines: H∞/Leitmann Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muxuan Pan

2017-04-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a H ∞ /Leitmann approach to the robust tracking control design is presented for an uncertain dynamic system. This new method is developed in the following two steps. Firstly, a tracking dynamic system with simultaneous consideration of parameter uncertainty and noise is modeled based on a linear system and a reference model. Accordingly, a “nominal system” from the tracking system is defined and controlled by a H ∞ control to obtain the asymptotical stability and noise resistance. Secondly, by making use of a Lyapunov function and the norm boundedness, a new robust control with the “Leitmann approach” is designed to cope with the uncertainty. The two controls collaborate with each other to achieve “uniform tracking boundedness” and “uniform ultimate tracking boundedness”. The new approach is then applied to an aircraft turbofan control design, and the numerical simulation results show the prescribed performances of the closed-loop system and the advantage of the developed approach.

Information about robustness, reliability and safety in early design phases

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Marini, Vinicius Kaster

methods, and an industrial case to assess how the use of information about robustness, reliability and safety as practised by current methods influences concept development. Current methods cannot be used in early design phases due to their dependence on detailed design information for the identification...... alternatives. This prompts designers to reuse working principles that are inherently flawed, as they are liable to disturbances, failures and hazards. To address this issue, an approach based upon individual records of early design issues consists of comparing failures and benefits from prior working...... principles, before making a decision, and improving the more suitable alternatives through this feedback. Workshops were conducted with design practitioners to evaluate the potential of the approach and to simulate decision-making and gain feedback on a proof-of-concept basis. The evaluation has demonstrated...

Designing Dynamic Adaptive Policy Pathways using Many-Objective Robust Decision Making

Science.gov (United States)

Kwakkel, Jan; Haasnoot, Marjolijn

2017-04-01

Dealing with climate risks in water management requires confronting a wide variety of deeply uncertain factors, while navigating a many dimensional space of trade-offs amongst objectives. There is an emerging body of literature on supporting this type of decision problem, under the label of decision making under deep uncertainty. Two approaches within this literature are Many-Objective Robust Decision Making, and Dynamic Adaptive Policy Pathways. In recent work, these approaches have been compared. One of the main conclusions of this comparison was that they are highly complementary. Many-Objective Robust Decision Making is a model based decision support approach, while Dynamic Adaptive Policy Pathways is primarily a conceptual framework for the design of flexible strategies that can be adapted over time in response to how the future is actually unfolding. In this research we explore this complementarity in more detail. Specifically, we demonstrate how Many-Objective Robust Decision Making can be used to design adaptation pathways. We demonstrate this combined approach using a water management problem, in the Netherlands. The water level of Lake IJselmeer, the main fresh water resource of the Netherlands, is currently managed through discharge by gravity. Due to climate change, this won't be possible in the future, unless water levels are changed. Changing the water level has undesirable flood risk and spatial planning consequences. The challenge is to find promising adaptation pathways that balance objectives related to fresh water supply, flood risk, and spatial issues, while accounting for uncertain climatic and land use change. We conclude that the combination of Many-Objective Robust Decision Making and Dynamic Adaptive Policy Pathways is particularly suited for dealing with deeply uncertain climate risks.

Teens, Power Tools, and Green Schools: Education for Sustainability through a University Environmental Design Program and Middle School Partnership

Science.gov (United States)

Derr, Victoria

2017-01-01

This article explores the role of green schools in promoting education for sustainability by reflecting on a university-middle school partnership focused on sustainable design. Undergraduates and middle school students met weekly for a semester to learn about sustainability through simple design projects and activities that focused on…

Robust Fault Diagnosis Design for Linear Multiagent Systems with Incipient Faults

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jingping Xia

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The design of a robust fault estimation observer is studied for linear multiagent systems subject to incipient faults. By considering the fact that incipient faults are in low-frequency domain, the fault estimation of such faults is proposed for discrete-time multiagent systems based on finite-frequency technique. Moreover, using the decomposition design, an equivalent conclusion is given. Simulation results of a numerical example are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed techniques.

Financial services partnerships labor-management dynamics

CERN Document Server

Samuel, Peter

2013-01-01

The purpose of this book is to evaluate the debate on partnership, using original research data. Samuel provides a novel categorisation with which to synthesise and clarify a highly diverse literature on labour-management partnership, thus helping to refine the contemporary partnership debate. Secondly, he clarifies the circumstances under which 'effective' labour-management partnership is possible, while simultaneously elaborating why the achievement of 'mutual gains' is highly improbable in a liberal-market context. Thirdly, the book presents an integrated analysis of the interplay between macro-, meso- (industry) and micro-level factors. Fourthly, the research design enables the study to go beyond the case studies to make defendable empirical generalizations at the level of the industry. Finally, it advances a theoretical explanation of labour-management partnerships in 'liberal market' economies by bridging two opposing neo-institutional positions in the social sciences.

Partnership working in public health: the implications for governance of a systems approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Hunter, David; Perkins, Neil

2012-04-01

Most of the research on partnerships has centred on health and social care, and while many of the findings remain relevant, public health partnerships concerned with 'wicked issues' give rise to a different and more complex set of issues which merit exploration. The study aimed to identify those factors promoting effective partnership working for health improvement; to assess the extent to which partnership governance and incentive arrangements were commensurate with the complexities of the problem; and to explore how far local partnerships contributed to better outcomes for individuals and populations. A three-year study of public health partnerships (2007-10) in nine localities across England involving semi-structured interviews at strategic and operational levels. Successful partnerships shared a number of characteristics: they were clear about goals and purpose; they were aware of partners' roles and responsibilities; and they had a clear strategic overview of performance through robust monitoring and evaluation. In many cases, partnerships were facades with a 'silo mentality' prevailing - there was an unwillingness to share information or resources, or to accord partnership working sufficient priority or support. Despite enthusiasm for partnerships and an insistence that they were essential, it was impossible to establish evidence of their impact on health outcomes. While the focus on partnerships tends to be on structures, relational factors, including high levels of trust and goodwill, were important ingredients of a well-functioning partnership. Less formal and more organic, operational partnerships were more effective than more formal, strategic level ones which were driven by targets. Finally, partnerships were, in part, shaped by the national policy context, with constant policy and organizational churn making it difficult to sustain long-term relationships. Future partnerships might be undertaken differently, adopting a complex adaptive systems

Engineering Capabilities and Partnerships

Science.gov (United States)

Poulos, Steve

2010-01-01

This slide presentation reviews the engineering capabilities at Johnson Space Center, The presentation also reviews the partnerships that have resulted in successfully designed and developed projects that involved commercial and educational institutions.

Robust control design for the plasma horizontal position control on J-TEXT Tokamak

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu, W.Z.; Chen, Z.P.; Zhuang, G.; Wang, Z.J.

2013-01-01

It is extremely important for tokamak to control the plasma position during routine discharge. However, the model of plasma in tokamak usually contains much of the uncertainty, such as structured uncertainties and unmodeled dynamics. Compared with the traditional PID control approach, robust control theory is more suitable to handle this problem. In the paper, we propose a H ∞ robust control scheme to control the horizontal position of plasma during the flat-top phase of discharge on Joint Texas Experimental Tokamak (J-TEXT) tokamak. First, the model of our plant for plasma horizontal position control is obtained from the position equilibrium equations. Then the H ∞ robust control framework is used to synthesize the controller. Based on this, an H ∞ controller is designed to minimize the regulation/tracking error. Finally, a comparison study is conducted between the optimized H ∞ robust controller and the traditional PID controller in simulations. The simulation results of the H ∞ robust controller show a significant improvement of the performance with respect to those obtained with traditional PID controller, which is currently used on our machine

Design and synthesis of multipurpose batch plant using a robust scheduling platform

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Seid, ER

2013-10-01

Full Text Available & Engineering Chemistry Research October 2012/ Vol. 52(46) Design and Synthesis of Multipurpose Batch Plants Using a Robust Scheduling Platform Esmael R. Seid † and Thokozani Majozi *†‡ † Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Pretoria...

TRU partnership-Working smarter-Not harder

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Armstrong, D.W.; Briggs, S.R.; Martin, M.R.; Turner, D.R.

1994-01-01

The open-quotes TRU Partnershipclose quotes was initiated and continues to function under the catch phrase philosophy of open-quotes work smarter, not harderclose quotes. The parntership participants have realized that DOE no longer has the funding available to reinvent the wheel at each site. Information and experiences from each site need to accurately and timely provided to the other sites for their use. The project teams from the different TRU waste handling sites benefit enormously from the strong network that has developed between TRU partnership participants. The partnership working interface places design manager in touch with design manager, project manager with project manager, etc. across site boundaries, and equally important, across corporate boundaries. The TRU Partnership has created a team atmosphere for the participants. The team focus is on the common challenge of managing TRU waste projects to support site needs and the needs of the national TRU waste program. Although consistency of approach for all projects at any given site is important, the TRU Partnership provides an intersite forum to establish consistency and understanding across all DOE projects managing TRU waste. The TRU Partnership has adopted the Westinghouse Electric Corporation open-quotes Savings Through Sharingclose quotes philosophy as an integral part of its organizational objectives. As applied by the group, the approach concentrates on information and experiences that can enhance development and reduce costs for (TRU) waste projects

Hiding the weakness: structural robustness using origami design

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Bin; Santangelo, Christian; Cohen, Itai

2015-03-01

A non-deformable structure is typically associated with infinitely stiff materials that resist distortion. In this work, we designed a structure with a region that will not deform even though it is made of arbitrarily compliant materials. More specifically, we show that a foldable sheet with a circular hole in the middle can be deformed externally with the internal geometry of the hole unaffected. Instead of strengthening the local stiffness, we fine tune the crease patterns so that all the soft modes that can potentially deform the internal geometry are not accessible through strain on the external boundary. The inner structure is thus protected by the topological mechanics, based on the detailed geometry of how the vertices in the foldable sheet are connected. In this way, we isolate the structural robustness from the mechanical properties of the materials, which introduces an extra degree of freedom for structural design.

Mechanical Design for Robustness of the LHC Collimators

CERN Document Server

Bertarelli, Alessandro; Assmann, R W; Calatroni, Sergio; Dallocchio, Alessandro; Kurtyka, Tadeusz; Mayer, Manfred; Perret, Roger; Redaelli, Stefano; Robert-Demolaize, Guillaume

2005-01-01

The functional specification of the LHC Collimators requires, for the start-up of the machine and the initial luminosity runs (Phase 1), a collimation system with maximum robustness against abnormal beam operating conditions. The most severe cases to be considered in the mechanical design are the asynchronous beam dump at 7 TeV and the 450 GeV injection error. To ensure that the collimator jaws survive such accident scenarios, low-Z materials were chosen, driving the design towards Graphite or Carbon/Carbon composites. Furthermore, in-depth thermo-mechanical simulations, both static and dynamic, were necessary.This paper presents the results of the numerical analyses performed for the 450 GeV accident case, along with the experimental results of the tests conducted on a collimator prototype in Cern TT40 transfer line, impacted by a 450 GeV beam of 3.1·1013

ESBWR - Robust design for natural circulation and stability performance effectiveness

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alamgir, M. D.; Marquino, W.; Yang, J.; Saha, P.; Fennern, L.; Colby, M. [GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy, M/C A65, 3901Castle Hayne Road, Wilmington, NC 28401 (United States)

2012-07-01

ESBWR is a 4500 MWt Generation III+ natural circulation reactor with an array of robust design features and passive safety systems to deliver highly effective plant performance during normal operation and to keep the reactor safe during postulated transients and accidents. With the submittal of the latest revision of the Design Control Document (DCD) to US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ESBWR is nearing the completion of the US design certification process. This paper focuses on the natural circulation-driven plant performance aspects during normal operation, and stability evaluation of the robust ESBWR design. The TRACG computer code is used for the analysis of ESBWR plant performance, safety analysis, and stability margins. The paper describes the evaluation of ESBWR stability performance during normal power operation including operation in the Core Power-Feed Water Temperature Operating Domain. For ESBWR the normal power operation condition has the highest power/flow ratio and is limiting from the perspective of stability. The paper includes results from detailed evaluation of the most limiting decay ratio for out-of-phase regional oscillations calculated by perturbing the core inlet flow rate in this out-of-phase mode about the line of symmetry for the azimuthal harmonic mode. The paper also summarizes the ESBWR regional mode stability evaluations during a limiting transient (Loss of Feedwater Heating), and during ATWS (Anticipated Transient without Scram). Nominal decay ratios of limiting Channel oscillation, Core wide oscillation and Regional oscillation are within the maximum acceptance criterion of 0.8, at 95% content and 95% confidence. These stability evaluation results indicate decay ratio is within design limits. The paper also describes the evaluation of ESBWR stability performance during plant startup, and summarizes the defense-in-depth stability solution for ESBWR. (authors)

ESBWR - Robust design for natural circulation and stability performance effectiveness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alamgir, M. D.; Marquino, W.; Yang, J.; Saha, P.; Fennern, L.; Colby, M.

2012-01-01

ESBWR is a 4500 MWt Generation III+ natural circulation reactor with an array of robust design features and passive safety systems to deliver highly effective plant performance during normal operation and to keep the reactor safe during postulated transients and accidents. With the submittal of the latest revision of the Design Control Document (DCD) to US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ESBWR is nearing the completion of the US design certification process. This paper focuses on the natural circulation-driven plant performance aspects during normal operation, and stability evaluation of the robust ESBWR design. The TRACG computer code is used for the analysis of ESBWR plant performance, safety analysis, and stability margins. The paper describes the evaluation of ESBWR stability performance during normal power operation including operation in the Core Power-Feed Water Temperature Operating Domain. For ESBWR the normal power operation condition has the highest power/flow ratio and is limiting from the perspective of stability. The paper includes results from detailed evaluation of the most limiting decay ratio for out-of-phase regional oscillations calculated by perturbing the core inlet flow rate in this out-of-phase mode about the line of symmetry for the azimuthal harmonic mode. The paper also summarizes the ESBWR regional mode stability evaluations during a limiting transient (Loss of Feedwater Heating), and during ATWS (Anticipated Transient without Scram). Nominal decay ratios of limiting Channel oscillation, Core wide oscillation and Regional oscillation are within the maximum acceptance criterion of 0.8, at 95% content and 95% confidence. These stability evaluation results indicate decay ratio is within design limits. The paper also describes the evaluation of ESBWR stability performance during plant startup, and summarizes the defense-in-depth stability solution for ESBWR. (authors)

Robust Nearfield Wideband Beamforming Design Based on Adaptive-Weighted Convex Optimization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guo Ye-Cai

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Nearfield wideband beamformers for microphone arrays have wide applications in multichannel speech enhancement. The nearfield wideband beamformer design based on convex optimization is one of the typical representatives of robust approaches. However, in this approach, the coefficient of convex optimization is a constant, which has not used all the freedom provided by the weighting coefficient efficiently. Therefore, it is still necessary to further improve the performance. To solve this problem, we developed a robust nearfield wideband beamformer design approach based on adaptive-weighted convex optimization. The proposed approach defines an adaptive-weighted function by the adaptive array signal processing theory and adjusts its value flexibly, which has improved the beamforming performance. During each process of the adaptive updating of the weighting function, the convex optimization problem can be formulated as a SOCP (Second-Order Cone Program problem, which could be solved efficiently using the well-established interior-point methods. This method is suitable for the case where the sound source is in the nearfield range, can work well in the presence of microphone mismatches, and is applicable to arbitrary array geometries. Several design examples are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach and the correctness of the theoretical analysis.

Partnerships panel: natural, resource partnerships: literature synthesis and research agenda

Science.gov (United States)

Steve Selin; Nancy Myers

1995-01-01

This paper presents a summary of an annotated bibliography on natural resource partnerships. Resource areas and management functions addressed in the partnership literature are examined. Partnership research is summarized and broken into categories including: Partnership outcomes, assessing the potential for partnerships, characteristics of successful partnerships,...

Design and evaluation of a robust dynamic neurocontroller for a multivariable aircraft control problem

Science.gov (United States)

Troudet, T.; Garg, S.; Merrill, W.

1992-01-01

The design of a dynamic neurocontroller with good robustness properties is presented for a multivariable aircraft control problem. The internal dynamics of the neurocontroller are synthesized by a state estimator feedback loop. The neurocontrol is generated by a multilayer feedforward neural network which is trained through backpropagation to minimize an objective function that is a weighted sum of tracking errors, and control input commands and rates. The neurocontroller exhibits good robustness through stability margins in phase and vehicle output gains. By maintaining performance and stability in the presence of sensor failures in the error loops, the structure of the neurocontroller is also consistent with the classical approach of flight control design.

Adaptive robust PID controller design based on a sliding mode for uncertain chaotic systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chang Weider; Yan Junjuh

2005-01-01

A robust adaptive PID controller design motivated from the sliding mode control is proposed for a class of uncertain chaotic systems in this paper. Three PID control gains, K p , K i , and K d , are adjustable parameters and will be updated online with an adequate adaptation mechanism to minimize a previously designed sliding condition. By introducing a supervisory controller, the stability of the closed-loop PID control system under with the plant uncertainty and external disturbance can be guaranteed. Finally, a well-known Duffing-Holmes chaotic system is used as an illustrative to show the effectiveness of the proposed robust adaptive PID controller

Robustness of Structures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

2008-01-01

This paper describes the background of the robustness requirements implemented in the Danish Code of Practice for Safety of Structures and in the Danish National Annex to the Eurocode 0, see (DS-INF 146, 2003), (DS 409, 2006), (EN 1990 DK NA, 2007) and (Sørensen and Christensen, 2006). More...... frequent use of advanced types of structures with limited redundancy and serious consequences in case of failure combined with increased requirements to efficiency in design and execution followed by increased risk of human errors has made the need of requirements to robustness of new structures essential....... According to Danish design rules robustness shall be documented for all structures in high consequence class. The design procedure to document sufficient robustness consists of: 1) Review of loads and possible failure modes / scenarios and determination of acceptable collapse extent; 2) Review...

In Silico Design of Robust Bolalipid Membranes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bulacu, Monica; Periole, Xavier; Marrink, Siewert J.; Périole, Xavier

The robustness of microorganisms used in industrial fermentations is essential for the efficiency and yield of the production process. A viable tool to increase the robustness is through engineering of the cell membrane and especially by incorporating lipids from species that survive under harsh

LCL-Filter Design for Robust Active Damping in Grid-Connected Converters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pena-Alzola, Rafael; Liserre, Marco; Blaabjerg, Frede

2014-01-01

in the grid inductance may compromise system stability, and this problem is more severe for parallel converters. This situation, typical of rural areas with solar and wind resources, calls for robust LCL-filter design. This paper proposes a design procedure with remarkable results under severe grid inductance......Grid-connected converters employ LCL-filters, instead of simple inductors, because they allow lower inductances while reducing cost and size. Active damping, without dissipative elements, is preferred to passive damping for solving the associated stability problems. However, large variations...

A robust rotorcraft flight control system design methodology utilizing quantitative feedback theory

Science.gov (United States)

Gorder, Peter James

1993-01-01

Rotorcraft flight control systems present design challenges which often exceed those associated with fixed-wing aircraft. First, large variations in the response characteristics of the rotorcraft result from the wide range of airspeeds of typical operation (hover to over 100 kts). Second, the assumption of vehicle rigidity often employed in the design of fixed-wing flight control systems is rarely justified in rotorcraft where rotor degrees of freedom can have a significant impact on the system performance and stability. This research was intended to develop a methodology for the design of robust rotorcraft flight control systems. Quantitative Feedback Theory (QFT) was chosen as the basis for the investigation. Quantitative Feedback Theory is a technique which accounts for variability in the dynamic response of the controlled element in the design robust control systems. It was developed to address a Multiple-Input Single-Output (MISO) design problem, and utilizes two degrees of freedom to satisfy the design criteria. Two techniques were examined for extending the QFT MISO technique to the design of a Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) flight control system (FCS) for a UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopter. In the first, a set of MISO systems, mathematically equivalent to the MIMO system, was determined. QFT was applied to each member of the set simultaneously. In the second, the same set of equivalent MISO systems were analyzed sequentially, with closed loop response information from each loop utilized in subsequent MISO designs. The results of each technique were compared, and the advantages of the second, termed Sequential Loop Closure, were clearly evident.

Opportunities and Challenges for Drug Development: Public-Private Partnerships, Adaptive Designs and Big Data.

Science.gov (United States)

Yildirim, Oktay; Gottwald, Matthias; Schüler, Peter; Michel, Martin C

2016-01-01

Drug development faces the double challenge of increasing costs and increasing pressure on pricing. To avoid that lack of perceived commercial perspective will leave existing medical needs unmet, pharmaceutical companies and many other stakeholders are discussing ways to improve the efficiency of drug Research and Development. Based on an international symposium organized by the Medical School of the University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany) and held in January 2016, we discuss the opportunities and challenges of three specific areas, i.e., public-private partnerships, adaptive designs and big data. Public-private partnerships come in many different forms with regard to scope, duration and type and number of participants. They range from project-specific collaborations to strategic alliances to large multi-party consortia. Each of them offers specific opportunities and faces distinct challenges. Among types of collaboration, investigator-initiated studies are becoming increasingly popular but have legal, ethical, and financial implications. Adaptive trial designs are also increasingly discussed. However, adaptive should not be used as euphemism for the repurposing of a failed trial; rather it requires carefully planning and specification before a trial starts. Adaptive licensing can be a counter-part of adaptive trial design. The use of Big Data is another opportunity to leverage existing information into knowledge useable for drug discovery and development. Respecting limitations of informed consent and privacy is a key challenge in the use of Big Data. Speakers and participants at the symposium were convinced that appropriate use of the above new options may indeed help to increase the efficiency of future drug development.

Opportunities and challenges for drug development: public-private partnerships, adaptive designs and big data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oktay Yildirim

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Drug development faces the double challenge of increasing costs and increasing pressure on pricing. To avoid that lack of perceived commercial perspective will leave existing medical needs unmet, pharmaceutical companies and many other stakeholders are discussing ways to improve the efficiency of drug Research & Development. Based on an international symposium organized by the Medical School of the University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany and held in January 2016, we discuss the opportunities and challenges of three specific areas, i.e. public-private partnerships, adaptive designs and big data. Public-private partnerships come in many different forms with regard to scope, duration and type and number of participants. They range from project-specific collaborations to strategic alliances to large multi-party consortia. Each of them offers specific opportunities and faces distinct challenges. Among types of collaboration, investigator-initiated studies are becoming increasingly popular but have legal, ethical and financial implications. Adaptive trial designs are also increasingly discussed. However, adaptive should not be used as euphemism for the repurposing of a failed trial; rather it requires carefully planning and specification before a trial starts. Adaptive licensing can be a counter-part of adaptive trial design. The use of Big Data is another opportunity to leverage existing information into knowledge useable for drug discovery and development. Respecting limitations of informed consent and privacy is a key challenge in the use of Big Data. Speakers and participants at the symposium were convinced that appropriate use of the above new options may indeed help to increase the efficiency of future drug development.

Opportunities and Challenges for Drug Development: Public–Private Partnerships, Adaptive Designs and Big Data

Science.gov (United States)

Yildirim, Oktay; Gottwald, Matthias; Schüler, Peter; Michel, Martin C.

2016-01-01

Drug development faces the double challenge of increasing costs and increasing pressure on pricing. To avoid that lack of perceived commercial perspective will leave existing medical needs unmet, pharmaceutical companies and many other stakeholders are discussing ways to improve the efficiency of drug Research and Development. Based on an international symposium organized by the Medical School of the University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany) and held in January 2016, we discuss the opportunities and challenges of three specific areas, i.e., public–private partnerships, adaptive designs and big data. Public–private partnerships come in many different forms with regard to scope, duration and type and number of participants. They range from project-specific collaborations to strategic alliances to large multi-party consortia. Each of them offers specific opportunities and faces distinct challenges. Among types of collaboration, investigator-initiated studies are becoming increasingly popular but have legal, ethical, and financial implications. Adaptive trial designs are also increasingly discussed. However, adaptive should not be used as euphemism for the repurposing of a failed trial; rather it requires carefully planning and specification before a trial starts. Adaptive licensing can be a counter-part of adaptive trial design. The use of Big Data is another opportunity to leverage existing information into knowledge useable for drug discovery and development. Respecting limitations of informed consent and privacy is a key challenge in the use of Big Data. Speakers and participants at the symposium were convinced that appropriate use of the above new options may indeed help to increase the efficiency of future drug development. PMID:27999543

Robustness of Structural Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Canisius, T.D.G.; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard; Baker, J.W.

2007-01-01

The importance of robustness as a property of structural systems has been recognised following several structural failures, such as that at Ronan Point in 1968,where the consequenceswere deemed unacceptable relative to the initiating damage. A variety of research efforts in the past decades have...... attempted to quantify aspects of robustness such as redundancy and identify design principles that can improve robustness. This paper outlines the progress of recent work by the Joint Committee on Structural Safety (JCSS) to develop comprehensive guidance on assessing and providing robustness in structural...... systems. Guidance is provided regarding the assessment of robustness in a framework that considers potential hazards to the system, vulnerability of system components, and failure consequences. Several proposed methods for quantifying robustness are reviewed, and guidelines for robust design...

Robust Control for Microgravity Vibration Isolation using Fixed Order, Mixed H2/Mu Design

Science.gov (United States)

Whorton, Mark

2003-01-01

Many space-science experiments need an active isolation system to provide a sufficiently quiescent microgravity environment. Modern control methods provide the potential for both high-performance and robust stability in the presence of parametric uncertainties that are characteristic of microgravity vibration isolation systems. While H2 and H(infinity) methods are well established, neither provides the levels of attenuation performance and robust stability in a compensator with low order. Mixed H2/H(infinity), controllers provide a means for maximizing robust stability for a given level of mean-square nominal performance while directly optimizing for controller order constraints. This paper demonstrates the benefit of mixed norm design from the perspective of robustness to parametric uncertainties and controller order for microgravity vibration isolation. A nominal performance metric analogous to the mu measure, for robust stability assessment is also introduced in order to define an acceptable trade space from which different control methodologies can be compared.

A novel non-probabilistic approach using interval analysis for robust design optimization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sun, Wei; Dong, Rongmei; Xu, Huanwei

2009-01-01

A technique for formulation of the objective and constraint functions with uncertainty plays a crucial role in robust design optimization. This paper presents the first application of interval methods for reformulating the robust optimization problem. Based on interval mathematics, the original real-valued objective and constraint functions are replaced with the interval-valued functions, which directly represent the upper and lower bounds of the new functions under uncertainty. The single objective function is converted into two objective functions for minimizing the mean value and the variation, and the constraint functions are reformulated with the acceptable robustness level, resulting in a bi-level mathematical model. Compared with other methods, this method is efficient and does not require presumed probability distribution of uncertain factors or gradient or continuous information of constraints. Two numerical examples are used to illustrate the validity and feasibility of the presented method

Academic-Service Partnerships in Nursing: An Integrative Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Judy A. Beal

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This integrative review summarizes currently available evidence on academic-service partnerships in the profession of nursing. More than 300 articles, published primarily in refereed journals, were accessed. Articles (110 were included in this review as they presented detailed and substantive information about any aspect of a nursing academic-service partnership. The majority were anecdotal in nature. Topics clustered around the following categories: pre-requisites for successful partnerships, benefits of partnerships, types of partnerships, and workforce development with its themes of academic-practice progression and educational re-design. Many examples of partnerships between academic and service settings were thoroughly described and best practices suggested, most often, however, without formal evaluation of outcomes. Nursing leaders in both settings have a long tradition of partnering with very little replicable evidence to support their efforts. It is critical that future initiatives evaluate the effectiveness of these partnerships, not only to ensure quality of patient outcomes but also to maximize efforts at building capacity for tomorrow's workforce.

Academic-service partnerships in nursing: an integrative review.

Science.gov (United States)

Beal, Judy A

2012-01-01

This integrative review summarizes currently available evidence on academic-service partnerships in the profession of nursing. More than 300 articles, published primarily in refereed journals, were accessed. Articles (110) were included in this review as they presented detailed and substantive information about any aspect of a nursing academic-service partnership. The majority were anecdotal in nature. Topics clustered around the following categories: pre-requisites for successful partnerships, benefits of partnerships, types of partnerships, and workforce development with its themes of academic-practice progression and educational re-design. Many examples of partnerships between academic and service settings were thoroughly described and best practices suggested, most often, however, without formal evaluation of outcomes. Nursing leaders in both settings have a long tradition of partnering with very little replicable evidence to support their efforts. It is critical that future initiatives evaluate the effectiveness of these partnerships, not only to ensure quality of patient outcomes but also to maximize efforts at building capacity for tomorrow's workforce.

Design process robustness: A bi-partite network analysis reveals the central importance of people

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Piccolo, Sebastiano; Jørgensen, Sune Lehmann; Maier, Anja

2018-01-01

, reducing the risk of rework and delays. Although there has been much progress in modelling and understanding design processes, little is known about the interplay between people and the activities they perform and its influence on design process robustness. To analyse this interplay, we model a large...

Methods for robustness programming

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Olieman, N.J.

2008-01-01

Robustness of an object is defined as the probability that an object will have properties as required. Robustness Programming (RP) is a mathematical approach for Robustness estimation and Robustness optimisation. An example in the context of designing a food product, is finding the best composition

BIG SKY CARBON SEQUESTRATION PARTNERSHIP

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Susan M. Capalbo

2005-01-31

The Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership, led by Montana State University, is comprised of research institutions, public entities and private sectors organizations, and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the Nez Perce Tribe. Efforts under this Partnership in Phase I fall into four areas: evaluation of sources and carbon sequestration sinks that will be used to determine the location of pilot demonstrations in Phase II; development of GIS-based reporting framework that links with national networks; designing an integrated suite of monitoring, measuring, and verification technologies and assessment frameworks; and initiating a comprehensive education and outreach program. The groundwork is in place to provide an assessment of storage capabilities for CO{sub 2} utilizing the resources found in the Partnership region (both geological and terrestrial sinks), that would complement the ongoing DOE research. Efforts are underway to showcase the architecture of the GIS framework and initial results for sources and sinks. The region has a diverse array of geological formations that could provide storage options for carbon in one or more of its three states. Likewise, initial estimates of terrestrial sinks indicate a vast potential for increasing and maintaining soil C on forested, agricultural, and reclaimed lands. Both options include the potential for offsetting economic benefits to industry and society. Steps have been taken to assure that the GIS-based framework is consistent among types of sinks within the Big Sky Partnership area and with the efforts of other western DOE partnerships. The Partnership recognizes the critical importance of measurement, monitoring, and verification technologies to support not only carbon trading but all policies and programs that DOE and other agencies may want to pursue in support of GHG mitigation. The efforts in developing and implementing MMV technologies for geological sequestration reflect this concern. Research is

Robust Stability Analysis of the Space Launch System Control Design: A Singular Value Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Pei, Jing; Newsome, Jerry R.

2015-01-01

Classical stability analysis consists of breaking the feedback loops one at a time and determining separately how much gain or phase variations would destabilize the stable nominal feedback system. For typical launch vehicle control design, classical control techniques are generally employed. In addition to stability margins, frequency domain Monte Carlo methods are used to evaluate the robustness of the design. However, such techniques were developed for Single-Input-Single-Output (SISO) systems and do not take into consideration the off-diagonal terms in the transfer function matrix of Multi-Input-Multi-Output (MIMO) systems. Robust stability analysis techniques such as H(sub infinity) and mu are applicable to MIMO systems but have not been adopted as standard practices within the launch vehicle controls community. This paper took advantage of a simple singular-value-based MIMO stability margin evaluation method based on work done by Mukhopadhyay and Newsom and applied it to the SLS high-fidelity dynamics model. The method computes a simultaneous multi-loop gain and phase margin that could be related back to classical margins. The results presented in this paper suggest that for the SLS system, traditional SISO stability margins are similar to the MIMO margins. This additional level of verification provides confidence in the robustness of the control design.

Capturing Collaborative Challenges: Designing Complexity-Sensitive Theories of Change for Cross-Sector Partnerships

NARCIS (Netherlands)

R.J.M. van Tulder (Rob); Keen, N. (Nienke)

2018-01-01

textabstractSystems change requires complex interventions. Cross-sector partnerships (CSPs) face the daunting task of addressing complex societal problems by aligning different backgrounds, values, ideas and resources. A major challenge for CSPs is how to link the type of partnership to the

Topological design of electromechanical actuators with robustness toward over- and under-etching

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Qian, Xiaoping; Sigmund, Ole

2013-01-01

In this paper, we combine the recent findings in robust topology optimization formulations and Helmholtz partial differential equation based density filtering to improve the topological design of electromechanical actuators. For the electromechanical analysis, we adopt a monolithic formulation...... to model the coupled electrostatic and mechanical equations. For filtering, we extend the Helmholtz-based projection filter with Dirichlet boundary conditions to ensure appropriate design boundary conditions. For the optimization, we use the method of moving asymptotes, where the sensitivity is obtained...

Essential Partnerships in the Data Management Life Cycle

Science.gov (United States)

Kinkade, D.; Allison, M. D.; Chandler, C. L.; Copley, N. J.; Gegg, S. R.; Groman, R. C.; Rauch, S.

2015-12-01

An obvious product of the scientific research process is data. Today's geoscience research efforts can rapidly produce an unprecedented volume of multidisciplinary data that can pose management challenges for the facility charged with curating that information. How do these facilities achieve efficient data management in a high volume, heterogeneous data world? Partnerships are critical, especially for small to mid-sized data management offices, such as those dedicated to academic research communities. The idea of partnerships can encompass a wide range of collaborative relationships aimed at helping these facilities meet the evolving needs of their communities. However, one basic and often overlooked partnership in the data management process is that of the information manager and the Principal Investigator (PI) or data originator. Such relationships are critical in discerning the best possible management strategy, and in obtaining the most robust metadata necessary for reuse of multidisciplinary datasets. Partnerships established early in the data life cycle enable efficient management and dissemination of data in high volumes and heterogeneous formats. The Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO) was created to fulfill the data management needs of PIs funded by the NSF Ocean Sciences Biological and Chemical Sections, and Division of Polar Programs. Since its inception, the Office has relied upon the close relationships it cultivates between its data managers and PIs in order to provide effective data management for a wide variety of ecological and biogeochemical oceanographic data. This presentation will highlight some of the successful partnerships BCO-DMO has made with individual and collaborative investigators, as well as those with other data managers representing specific research communities.

Teacher-Scientist-Communicator-Learner Partnerships: Reimagining Scientists in the Classroom.

Science.gov (United States)

Noel-Storr, Jacob; Terwilliger, Michael; InsightSTEM Teacher-Scientist-Communicator-Learner Partnerships Team

2016-01-01

We present results of our work to reimagine Teacher-Scientist partnerships to improve relationships and outcomes. We describe our work in implementing Teacher-Scientist partnerships that are expanded to include a communicator, and the learners themselves, as genuine members of the partnership. Often times in Teacher-Scientist partnerships, the scientist can often become more easily described as a special guest into the classroom, rather than a genuine partner in the learning experience. We design programs that take the expertise of the teacher and the scientist fully into account to develop practical and meaningful partnerships, that are further enhanced by using an expert in communications to develop rich experiences for and with the learners. The communications expert may be from a broad base of backgrounds depending on the needs and desires of the partners -- the communicators include, for example: public speaking gurus; journalists; web and graphic designers; and American Sign Language interpreters. Our partnership programs provide online support and professional development for all parties. Outcomes of the program are evaluated in terms of not only learning outcomes for the students, but also attitude, behavior, and relationship outcomes for the teachers, scientists, communicators and learners alike.

Robust design method and thermostatic experiment for multiple piezoelectric vibration absorber system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nambu, Yohsuke; Takashima, Toshihide; Inagaki, Akiya

2015-01-01

This paper examines the effects of connecting multiplexing shunt circuits composed of inductors and resistors to piezoelectric transducers so as to improve the robustness of a piezoelectric vibration absorber (PVA). PVAs are well known to be effective at suppressing the vibration of an adaptive structure; their weakness is low robustness to changes in the dynamic parameters of the system, including the main structure and the absorber. In the application to space structures, the temperature-dependency of capacitance of piezoelectric ceramics is the factor that causes performance reduction. To improve robustness to the temperature-dependency of the capacitance, this paper proposes a multiple-PVA system that is composed of distributed piezoelectric transducers and several shunt circuits. The optimization problems that determine both the frequencies and the damping ratios of the PVAs are multi-objective problems, which are solved using a real-coded genetic algorithm in this paper. A clamped aluminum beam with four groups of piezoelectric ceramics attached was considered in simulations and experiments. Numerical simulations revealed that the PVA systems designed using the proposed method had tolerance to changes in the capacitances. Furthermore, experiments using a thermostatic bath were conducted to reveal the effectiveness and robustness of the PVA systems. The maximum peaks of the transfer functions of the beam with the open circuit, the single-PVA system, the double-PVA system, and the quadruple-PVA system at 20 °C were 14.3 dB, −6.91 dB, −7.47 dB, and −8.51 dB, respectively. The experimental results also showed that the multiple-PVA system is more robust than a single PVA in a variable temperature environment from −10 °C to 50 °C. In conclusion, the use of multiple PVAs results in an effective, robust vibration control method for adaptive structures. (paper)

Assessing the Robustness of Green Infrastructure under Stochastic Design Storms and Climate Change Scenarios

Science.gov (United States)

Chui, T. F. M.; Yang, Y.

2017-12-01

Green infrastructures (GI) have been widely used to mitigate flood risk, improve surface water quality, and to restore predevelopment hydrologic regimes. Commonly-used GI include, bioretention system, porous pavement and green roof, etc. They are normally sized to fulfil different design criteria (e.g. providing certain storage depths, limiting peak surface flow rates) that are formulated for current climate conditions. While GI commonly have long lifespan, the sensitivity of their performance to climate change is however unclear. This study first proposes a method to formulate suitable design criteria to meet different management interests (e.g. different levels of first flush reduction and peak flow reduction). Then typical designs of GI are proposed. In addition, a high resolution stochastic design storm generator using copulas and random cascade model is developed, which is calibrated using recorded rainfall time series. Then, few climate change scenarios are generated by varying the duration and depth of design storms, and changing the parameters of the calibrated storm generator. Finally, the performance of GI with typical designs under the random synthesized design storms are then assessed using numerical modeling. The robustness of the designs is obtained by the comparing their performance in the future scenarios to the current one. This study overall examines the robustness of the current GI design criteria under uncertain future climate conditions, demonstrating whether current GI design criteria should be modified to account for climate change.

Hybrid surface design for robust superhydrophobicity.

Science.gov (United States)

Dash, Susmita; Alt, Marie T; Garimella, Suresh V

2012-06-26

Surfaces may be rendered superhydrophobic by engineering the surface morphology to control the extent of the liquid-air interface and by the use of low-surface-energy coatings. The droplet state on a superhydrophobic surface under static and dynamic conditions may be explained in terms of the relative magnitudes of the wetting and antiwetting pressures acting at the liquid-air interface on the substrate. In this paper, we discuss the design and fabrication of hollow hybrid superhydrophobic surfaces which incorporate both communicating and noncommunicating air gaps. The surface design is analytically shown to exhibit higher capillary (or nonwetting) pressure compared to solid pillars with only communicating air gaps. Six hybrid surfaces are fabricated with different surface parameters selected such that the Cassie state of a droplet is energetically favorable. The robustness of the surfaces is tested under dynamic impingement conditions, and droplet dynamics are explained using pressure-based transitions between Cassie and Wenzel states. During droplet impingement, the effective water hammer pressure acting due to the sudden change in the velocity of the droplet is determined experimentally and is found to be at least 2 orders of magnitude less than values reported in the literature. The experiments show that the water hammer pressure depends on the surface morphology and capillary pressure of the surface. We propose that the observed reduction in shock pressure may be attributed to the presence of air gaps in the substrate. This feature allows liquid deformation and hence avoids the sudden stoppage of the droplet motion as opposed to droplet behavior on smooth surfaces.

Multimodel Robust Control for Hydraulic Turbine

OpenAIRE

Osuský, Jakub; Števo, Stanislav

2014-01-01

The paper deals with the multimodel and robust control system design and their combination based on M-Δ structure. Controller design will be done in the frequency domain with nominal performance specified by phase margin. Hydraulic turbine model is analyzed as system with unstructured uncertainty, and robust stability condition is included in controller design. Multimodel and robust control approaches are presented in detail on hydraulic turbine model. Control design approaches are compared a...

Multifidelity Robust Aeroelastic Design, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Nielsen Engineering & Research (NEAR) proposes a new method to generate mathematical models of wind-tunnel models and flight vehicles for robust aeroelastic...

Regional Feedstock Partnership Summary Report: Enabling the Billion-Ton Vision

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Owens, Vance N. [South Dakota State Univ., Brookings, SD (United States). North Central Sun Grant Center; Karlen, Douglas L. [Dept. of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service, Ames, IA (United States). National Lab. for Agriculture and the Environment; Lacey, Jeffrey A. [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States). Process Science and Technology Division

2016-07-12

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Sun Grant Initiative established the Regional Feedstock Partnership (referred to as the Partnership) to address information gaps associated with enabling the vision of a sustainable, reliable, billion-ton U.S. bioenergy industry by the year 2030 (i.e., the Billion-Ton Vision). Over the past 7 years (2008–2014), the Partnership has been successful at advancing the biomass feedstock production industry in the United States, with notable accomplishments. The Billion-Ton Study identifies the technical potential to expand domestic biomass production to offset up to 30% of U.S. petroleum consumption, while continuing to meet demands for food, feed, fiber, and export. This study verifies for the biofuels and chemical industries that a real and substantial resource base could justify the significant investment needed to develop robust conversion technologies and commercial-scale facilities. DOE and the Sun Grant Initiative established the Partnership to demonstrate and validate the underlying assumptions underpinning the Billion-Ton Vision to supply a sustainable and reliable source of lignocellulosic feedstock to a large-scale bioenergy industry. This report discusses the accomplishments of the Partnership, with references to accompanying scientific publications. These accomplishments include advances in sustainable feedstock production, feedstock yield, yield stability and stand persistence, energy crop commercialization readiness, information transfer, assessment of the economic impacts of achieving the Billion-Ton Vision, and the impact of feedstock species and environment conditions on feedstock quality characteristics.

Monitoring and Evaluation of Human Trafficking Partnerships in England and Wales

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ruth Van Dyke

2017-04-01

Full Text Available In the United Kingdom, human trafficking and, more recently, modern slavery has been pushed up the political and policy agenda. At the same time, partnership working has been promoted at international and national levels in order to encourage a more holistic response to trafficking. This article examines the nature of the evidence collected to monitor and evaluate the activities and outcomes of organisations involved in a number of human trafficking partnerships in England and Wales. Underpinning this analysis is the ‘4 Ps’ approach to tackling human trafficking: Prevention, Protection, Prosecution and Partnership. Based on interviews with a variety of actors working in different partner bodies, limitations of evidence in relation to both monitoring activities as well as evaluating outcomes emerged. These relate to inadequate data collection, lack of robust methods of data collection, untested assumptions, the complexity of gathering evidence which reflect human welfare oriented goals, and the sharing of evidence between partner organisations. A key finding is that current data and methods of data collection are inadequate for the purpose of measuring the effectiveness of anti-trafficking initiatives and partnerships. Another key finding is the way in which partnerships challenged received outcomes and expanded their focus beyond victims of trafficking or criminal justice goals. Finally, I explore whether criminal justice outcomes can be leveraged to foster deterrence, by interrogating what evidence might be needed.

H-Infinity robust controller design for the synchronization of master-slave chaotic systems with disturbance input

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hamid Reza Karimi

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper is concerned with the robust control problems for the synchronization of master-slave chaotic systems with disturbance input. By constructing a series of Lyapunov functions, novel H-Infinity robust synchronization controllers are designed, whose control regulation possess the characteristic of simpleness and explicitness. Finally, numerical simulations are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed techniques.

Aerodynamic design applying automatic differentiation and using robust variable fidelity optimization

Science.gov (United States)

Takemiya, Tetsushi

, and that (2) the AMF terminates optimization erroneously when the optimization problems have constraints. The first problem is due to inaccuracy in computing derivatives in the AMF, and the second problem is due to erroneous treatment of the trust region ratio, which sets the size of the domain for an optimization in the AMF. In order to solve the first problem of the AMF, automatic differentiation (AD) technique, which reads the codes of analysis models and automatically generates new derivative codes based on some mathematical rules, is applied. If derivatives are computed with the generated derivative code, they are analytical, and the required computational time is independent of the number of design variables, which is very advantageous for realistic aerospace engineering problems. However, if analysis models implement iterative computations such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD), which solves system partial differential equations iteratively, computing derivatives through the AD requires a massive memory size. The author solved this deficiency by modifying the AD approach and developing a more efficient implementation with CFD, and successfully applied the AD to general CFD software. In order to solve the second problem of the AMF, the governing equation of the trust region ratio, which is very strict against the violation of constraints, is modified so that it can accept the violation of constraints within some tolerance. By accepting violations of constraints during the optimization process, the AMF can continue optimization without terminating immaturely and eventually find the true optimum design point. With these modifications, the AMF is referred to as "Robust AMF," and it is applied to airfoil and wing aerodynamic design problems using Euler CFD software. The former problem has 21 design variables, and the latter 64. In both problems, derivatives computed with the proposed AD method are first compared with those computed with the finite

Robust Control Mixer Method for Reconfigurable Control Design Using Model Matching Strategy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yang, Zhenyu; Blanke, Mogens; Verhagen, Michel

2007-01-01

A novel control mixer method for recon¯gurable control designs is developed. The proposed method extends the matrix-form of the conventional control mixer concept into a LTI dynamic system-form. The H_inf control technique is employed for these dynamic module designs after an augmented control...... system is constructed through a model-matching strategy. The stability, performance and robustness of the reconfigured system can be guaranteed when some conditions are satisfied. To illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, a robot system subjected to failures is used to demonstrate...

Advanced Vibration Analysis Tool Developed for Robust Engine Rotor Designs

Science.gov (United States)

Min, James B.

2005-01-01

The primary objective of this research program is to develop vibration analysis tools, design tools, and design strategies to significantly improve the safety and robustness of turbine engine rotors. Bladed disks in turbine engines always feature small, random blade-to-blade differences, or mistuning. Mistuning can lead to a dramatic increase in blade forced-response amplitudes and stresses. Ultimately, this results in high-cycle fatigue, which is a major safety and cost concern. In this research program, the necessary steps will be taken to transform a state-of-the-art vibration analysis tool, the Turbo- Reduce forced-response prediction code, into an effective design tool by enhancing and extending the underlying modeling and analysis methods. Furthermore, novel techniques will be developed to assess the safety of a given design. In particular, a procedure will be established for using natural-frequency curve veerings to identify ranges of operating conditions (rotational speeds and engine orders) in which there is a great risk that the rotor blades will suffer high stresses. This work also will aid statistical studies of the forced response by reducing the necessary number of simulations. Finally, new strategies for improving the design of rotors will be pursued.

AP1000R design robustness against extreme external events - Seismic, flooding, and aircraft crash

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pfister, A.; Goossen, C.; Coogler, K.; Gorgemans, J.

2012-01-01

Both the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) require existing and new nuclear power plants to conduct plant assessments to demonstrate the unit's ability to withstand external hazards. The events that occurred at the Fukushima-Dai-ichi nuclear power station demonstrated the importance of designing a nuclear power plant with the ability to protect the plant against extreme external hazards. The innovative design of the AP1000 R nuclear power plant provides unparalleled protection against catastrophic external events which can lead to extensive infrastructure damage and place the plant in an extended abnormal situation. The AP1000 plant is an 1100-MWe pressurized water reactor with passive safety features and extensive plant simplifications that enhance construction, operation, maintenance and safety. The plant's compact safety related footprint and protection provided by its robust nuclear island structures prevent significant damage to systems, structures, and components required to safely shutdown the plant and maintain core and spent fuel pool cooling and containment integrity following extreme external events. The AP1000 nuclear power plant has been extensively analyzed and reviewed to demonstrate that it's nuclear island design and plant layout provide protection against both design basis and extreme beyond design basis external hazards such as extreme seismic events, external flooding that exceeds the maximum probable flood limit, and malicious aircraft impact. The AP1000 nuclear power plant uses fail safe passive features to mitigate design basis accidents. The passive safety systems are designed to function without safety-grade support systems (such as AC power, component cooling water, service water, compressed air or HVAC). The plant has been designed to protect systems, structures, and components critical to placing the reactor in a safe shutdown condition within the steel containment vessel which is

Fractional order differentiation and robust control design crone, h-infinity and motion control

CERN Document Server

Sabatier, Jocelyn; Melchior, Pierre; Oustaloup, Alain

2015-01-01

This monograph collates the past decade’s work on fractional models and fractional systems in the fields of analysis, robust control and path tracking. Themes such as PID control, robust path tracking design and motion control methodologies involving fractional differentiation are amongst those explored. It juxtaposes recent theoretical results at the forefront in the field, and applications that can be used as exercises that will help the reader to assimilate the proposed methodologies. The first part of the book deals with fractional derivative and fractional model definitions, as well as recent results for stability analysis, fractional model physical interpretation, controllability, and H-infinity norm computation. It also presents a critical point of view on model pseudo-state and “real state”, tackling the problem of fractional model initialization. Readers will find coverage of PID, Fractional PID and robust control in the second part of the book, which rounds off with an extension of H-infinity ...

Robust Design of H-infinity Controller for a Launch Vehicle Autopilot against Disturbances

OpenAIRE

Graells, Antonio; Carrabina, Francisco

2016-01-01

Atmospheric flight phase of a launch vehicle is utilized to evaluate the performance of an H-infinity controller in the presence of disturbances. Dynamics of the vehicle is linearly modeled using time-varying parameters. An operating point was found to design a robust command tracker using H-infinity control theory that guarantees a stable maneuver. At the end, the controller was employed on the launch vehicle to assess the capability of control design on the linearized aerospace vehicle. Exp...

Robust design of broadband EUV multilayer beam splitters based on particle swarm optimization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jiang, Hui; Michette, Alan G.

2013-01-01

A robust design idea for broadband EUV multilayer beam splitters is introduced that achieves the aim of decreasing the influence of layer thickness errors on optical performances. Such beam splitters can be used in interferometry to determine the quality of EUVL masks by comparing with a reference multilayer. In the optimization, particle swarm techniques were used for the first time in such designs. Compared to conventional genetic algorithms, particle swarm optimization has stronger ergodicity, simpler processing and faster convergence

A case study on robust optimal experimental design for model calibration of ω-Transaminase

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Daele, Timothy, Van; Van Hauwermeiren, Daan; Ringborg, Rolf Hoffmeyer

the experimental space. However, it is expected that more informative experiments can be designed to increase the confidence of the parameter estimates. Therefore, we apply Optimal Experimental Design (OED) to the calibrated model of Shin and Kim (1998). The total number of samples was retained to allow fair......” parameter values are not known before finishing the model calibration. However, it is important that the chosen parameter values are close to the real parameter values, otherwise the OED can possibly yield non-informative experiments. To counter this problem, one can use robust OED. The idea of robust OED......Proper calibration of models describing enzyme kinetics can be quite challenging. This is especially the case for more complex models like transaminase models (Shin and Kim, 1998). The latter fitted model parameters, but the confidence on the parameter estimation was not derived. Hence...

Modular design of artificial tissue homeostasis: robust control through synthetic cellular heterogeneity.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miles Miller

Full Text Available Synthetic biology efforts have largely focused on small engineered gene networks, yet understanding how to integrate multiple synthetic modules and interface them with endogenous pathways remains a challenge. Here we present the design, system integration, and analysis of several large scale synthetic gene circuits for artificial tissue homeostasis. Diabetes therapy represents a possible application for engineered homeostasis, where genetically programmed stem cells maintain a steady population of β-cells despite continuous turnover. We develop a new iterative process that incorporates modular design principles with hierarchical performance optimization targeted for environments with uncertainty and incomplete information. We employ theoretical analysis and computational simulations of multicellular reaction/diffusion models to design and understand system behavior, and find that certain features often associated with robustness (e.g., multicellular synchronization and noise attenuation are actually detrimental for tissue homeostasis. We overcome these problems by engineering a new class of genetic modules for 'synthetic cellular heterogeneity' that function to generate beneficial population diversity. We design two such modules (an asynchronous genetic oscillator and a signaling throttle mechanism, demonstrate their capacity for enhancing robust control, and provide guidance for experimental implementation with various computational techniques. We found that designing modules for synthetic heterogeneity can be complex, and in general requires a framework for non-linear and multifactorial analysis. Consequently, we adapt a 'phenotypic sensitivity analysis' method to determine how functional module behaviors combine to achieve optimal system performance. We ultimately combine this analysis with Bayesian network inference to extract critical, causal relationships between a module's biochemical rate-constants, its high level functional behavior in

Modular design of artificial tissue homeostasis: robust control through synthetic cellular heterogeneity.

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Miles; Hafner, Marc; Sontag, Eduardo; Davidsohn, Noah; Subramanian, Sairam; Purnick, Priscilla E M; Lauffenburger, Douglas; Weiss, Ron

2012-01-01

Synthetic biology efforts have largely focused on small engineered gene networks, yet understanding how to integrate multiple synthetic modules and interface them with endogenous pathways remains a challenge. Here we present the design, system integration, and analysis of several large scale synthetic gene circuits for artificial tissue homeostasis. Diabetes therapy represents a possible application for engineered homeostasis, where genetically programmed stem cells maintain a steady population of β-cells despite continuous turnover. We develop a new iterative process that incorporates modular design principles with hierarchical performance optimization targeted for environments with uncertainty and incomplete information. We employ theoretical analysis and computational simulations of multicellular reaction/diffusion models to design and understand system behavior, and find that certain features often associated with robustness (e.g., multicellular synchronization and noise attenuation) are actually detrimental for tissue homeostasis. We overcome these problems by engineering a new class of genetic modules for 'synthetic cellular heterogeneity' that function to generate beneficial population diversity. We design two such modules (an asynchronous genetic oscillator and a signaling throttle mechanism), demonstrate their capacity for enhancing robust control, and provide guidance for experimental implementation with various computational techniques. We found that designing modules for synthetic heterogeneity can be complex, and in general requires a framework for non-linear and multifactorial analysis. Consequently, we adapt a 'phenotypic sensitivity analysis' method to determine how functional module behaviors combine to achieve optimal system performance. We ultimately combine this analysis with Bayesian network inference to extract critical, causal relationships between a module's biochemical rate-constants, its high level functional behavior in isolation, and

Mothers’ Partnership Instability and Coparenting among Fragile Families

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, Carey E.; Beck, Audrey N.; Högnäs, Robin S.; Swanson, Jodi

2015-01-01

Objectives The rise in nonmarital childbearing has raised concerns about coparenting among unmarried parents with increasingly complicated relationship trajectories. We address this issue by examining associations between mothers’ partnership transitions and coparenting and the moderating role of maternal race/ethnicity and child gender. Methods Data from the Fragile Families Study and ordinary least squares regression techniques are used to examine whether mothers’ partnership transitions are related to coparenting. Lagged and fixed effects models are employed to test the robustness of the findings to selection. Results Coresidential and nonresidential, dating transitions are negatively associated with coparenting, but the association is stronger for coresidential transitions than for dating transitions. Coresidential transitions are stronger predictors of coparenting for White parents than for Black parents and for parents of sons than for parents of daughters. Conclusions Policies aimed at strengthening families should emphasize relationship stability, regardless of the type of union, to promote high quality coparenting among at-risk populations. PMID:26538770

SU-E-T-266: Proton PBS Plan Design and Robustness Evaluation for Head and Neck Cancers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liang, X; Tang, S; Zhai, H; Kirk, M; Kalbasi, A; Lin, A; Ahn, P; Tochner, Z; McDonough, J; Both, S

2014-01-01

Purpose: To describe a newly designed proton pencil beam scanning (PBS) planning technique for radiotherapy of patients with bilateral oropharyngeal cancer, and to assess plan robustness. Methods: We treated 10 patients with proton PBS plans using 2 posterior oblique field (2F PBS) comprised of 80% single-field uniform dose (SFUD) and 20% intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT). All patients underwent weekly CT scans for verification. Using dosimetric indicators for both targets and organs at risk (OARs), we quantitatively compared initial plans and verification plans using student t-tests. We created a second proton PBS plan for each patient using 2 posterior oblique plus 1 anterior field comprised of 100% SFUD (3F PBS). We assessed plan robustness for both proton plan groups, as well as a photon volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) plan group by comparing initial and verification plans. Results: The 2F PBS plans were not robust in target coverage. D98% for clinical target volume (CTV) degraded from 100% to 96% on average, with maximum change Δ D98% of −24%. Two patients were moved to photon VMAT treatment due to insufficient CTV coverage on verification plans. Plan robustness was especially weak in the low-anterior neck. The 3F PBS plans, however, demonstrated robust target coverage, which was comparable to the VMAT photon plan group. Doses to oral cavity were lower in the Proton PBS plans compared to photon VMAT plans due to no lower exit dose to the oral cavity. Conclusion: Proton PBS plans using 2 posterior oblique fields were not robust for CTV coverage, due to variable positioning of redundant soft tissue in the posterior neck. We designed 3-field proton PBS plans using an anterior field to avoid long heterogeneous paths in the low neck. These 3-field proton PBS plans had significantly improved plan robustness, and the robustness is comparable to VMAT photon plans

Utility-Marketer Partnerships. An Effective Strategy for Marketing Green Power?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bird, L. A. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Brown, E. S. [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

2006-04-01

This paper explores whether partnerships between utilities and independent marketers are an effective strategy for marketing green power. We present case studies of voluntary and mandatory partnerships covering green power program design and implementation in both regulated and restructured electricity markets. We also include perspectives (based on interviews) from utilities, marketers, and regulators involved in developing and implementing these partnerships. From these case studies and interviews, we describe lessons learned about developing effective partnerships, including such issues as respective roles in marketing and administration, product branding, and contract and incentive structures. Based on experience to date, strategic partnerships between utilities and marketers can be an effective approach to marketing green power. Partnerships leverage the sales and resource procurement experience of marketers and the utility’s reputation and access to customers. Further, partnerships can create greater incentives for success because marketers have a vested financial interest in maximizing customer participation and green power sales.

Utility-Marketing Partnerships: An Effective Strategy for Marketing Green Power?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bird, L. A.; Brown, E. S.

2006-04-01

This paper explores whether partnerships between utilities and independent marketers are an effective strategy for marketing green power. We present case studies of voluntary and mandatory partnerships covering green power program design and implementation in both regulated and restructured electricity markets. We also include perspectives (based on interviews) from utilities, marketers, and regulators involved in developing and implementing these partnerships. From these case studies and interviews, we describe lessons learned about developing effective partnerships, including such issues as respective roles in marketing and administration, product branding, and contract and incentive structures. Based on experience to date, strategic partnerships between utilities and marketers can be an effective approach to marketing green power. Partnerships leverage the sales and resource procurement experience of marketers and the utility?s reputation and access to customers. Further, partnerships can create greater incentives for success because marketers have a vested financial interest in maximizing customer participation and green power sales.

Robust SMES controller design for stabilization of inter-area oscillation considering coil size and system uncertainties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ngamroo, Issarachai

2010-01-01

It is well known that the superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) is able to quickly exchange active and reactive power with the power system. The SMES is expected to be the smart storage device for power system stabilization. Although the stabilizing effect of SMES is significant, the SMES is quite costly. Particularly, the superconducting magnetic coil size which is the essence of the SMES, must be carefully selected. On the other hand, various generation and load changes, unpredictable network structure, etc., cause system uncertainties. The power controller of SMES which is designed without considering such uncertainties, may not tolerate and loses stabilizing effect. To overcome these problems, this paper proposes the new design of robust SMES controller taking coil size and system uncertainties into account. The structure of the active and reactive power controllers is the 1st-order lead-lag compensator. No need for the exact mathematical representation, system uncertainties are modeled by the inverse input multiplicative perturbation. Without the difficulty of the trade-off of damping performance and robustness, the optimization problem of control parameters is formulated. The particle swarm optimization is used for solving the optimal parameters at each coil size automatically. Based on the normalized integral square error index and the consideration of coil current constraint, the robust SMES with the smallest coil size which still provides the satisfactory stabilizing effect, can be achieved. Simulation studies in the two-area four-machine interconnected power system show the superior robustness of the proposed robust SMES with the smallest coil size under various operating conditions over the non-robust SMES with large coil size.

Robust SMES controller design for stabilization of inter-area oscillation considering coil size and system uncertainties

Science.gov (United States)

Ngamroo, Issarachai

2010-12-01

It is well known that the superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) is able to quickly exchange active and reactive power with the power system. The SMES is expected to be the smart storage device for power system stabilization. Although the stabilizing effect of SMES is significant, the SMES is quite costly. Particularly, the superconducting magnetic coil size which is the essence of the SMES, must be carefully selected. On the other hand, various generation and load changes, unpredictable network structure, etc., cause system uncertainties. The power controller of SMES which is designed without considering such uncertainties, may not tolerate and loses stabilizing effect. To overcome these problems, this paper proposes the new design of robust SMES controller taking coil size and system uncertainties into account. The structure of the active and reactive power controllers is the 1st-order lead-lag compensator. No need for the exact mathematical representation, system uncertainties are modeled by the inverse input multiplicative perturbation. Without the difficulty of the trade-off of damping performance and robustness, the optimization problem of control parameters is formulated. The particle swarm optimization is used for solving the optimal parameters at each coil size automatically. Based on the normalized integral square error index and the consideration of coil current constraint, the robust SMES with the smallest coil size which still provides the satisfactory stabilizing effect, can be achieved. Simulation studies in the two-area four-machine interconnected power system show the superior robustness of the proposed robust SMES with the smallest coil size under various operating conditions over the non-robust SMES with large coil size.

15 CFR 1160.22 - Goal of the Strategic Partnership initiative.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... initiative. 1160.22 Section 1160.22 Commerce and Foreign Trade Regulations Relating to Commerce and Foreign... INNOVATION Strategic Partnership Initiative § 1160.22 Goal of the Strategic Partnership initiative. (a) This new initiative is designed to provide the private sector with the opportunity to discuss the possible...

Technology Partnership Agreements | NREL

Science.gov (United States)

Partnership Agreements Technology Partnership Agreements Looking for Funding? We do not fund any projects under a technology partnership agreement. The partner provides the necessary resources and, in using technology partnership agreements. See a summary of our Fiscal Year 2017 technology partnership

7 CFR 1400.204 - Limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships, limited liability companies, corporations...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 10 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships..., limited liability partnerships, limited liability companies, corporations, and other similar legal entities. (a) A limited partnership, limited liability partnership, limited liability company, corporation...

Sexual partnership patterns among South African adolescent girls enrolled in HPTN 068: measurement challenges and implications for HIV/STI transmission

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Nadia L.; Powers, Kimberly A.; Hughes, James P.; MacPhail, Catherine L.; Piwowar-Manning, Estelle; Patel, Eshan U.; Gomez-Olive, F. Xavier; Kahn, Kathleen; Pettifor, Audrey E.

2015-01-01

Background Estimates of sexual partnership durations, gaps between partnerships, and overlaps across partnerships are important for understanding sexual partnership patterns and developing interventions to prevent transmission of HIV/STIs. However, a validated, optimal approach for estimating these parameters, particularly when partnerships are ongoing, has not been established. Methods We assessed four approaches for estimating partnership parameters using cross-sectional reports on dates of first and most recent sex and partnership status (ongoing or not) from 654 adolescent girls in rural South Africa. The first, commonly used, approach assumes all partnerships have ended, resulting in underestimated durations for ongoing partnerships. The second approach treats reportedly ongoing partnerships as right-censored, resulting in bias if partnership status is reported with error. We propose two “hybrid” approaches, which assign partnership status to reportedly ongoing partnerships based on how recently girls last had sex with their partner. We estimate partnership duration, gap length, and overlap length under each approach using Kaplan-Meier methods with a robust variance estimator. Results Median partnership duration and overlap length varied considerably across approaches (from 368 to 1,024 days and 168 to 409 days, respectively), but gap length was stable. Lifetime prevalence of concurrency ranged from 28% to 33%, and at least half of gap lengths were shorter than 6 months, suggesting considerable potential for HIV/STI transmission. Conclusion Estimates of partnership duration and overlap lengths are highly dependent on measurement approach. Understanding the effect of different approaches on estimates is critical for interpreting partnership data and utilizing estimates to predict HIV/STI transmission rates. PMID:26462185

Robust Guaranteed Cost Observer Design for Singular Markovian Jump Time-Delay Systems with Generally Incomplete Transition Probability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yanbo Li

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper is devoted to the investigation of the design of robust guaranteed cost observer for a class of linear singular Markovian jump time-delay systems with generally incomplete transition probability. In this singular model, each transition rate can be completely unknown or only its estimate value is known. Based on stability theory of stochastic differential equations and linear matrix inequality (LMI technique, we design an observer to ensure that, for all uncertainties, the resulting augmented system is regular, impulse free, and robust stochastically stable with the proposed guaranteed cost performance. Finally, a convex optimization problem with LMI constraints is formulated to design the suboptimal guaranteed cost filters for linear singular Markovian jump time-delay systems with generally incomplete transition probability.

Green Power Partnership Related Programs & Organizations

Science.gov (United States)

The U.S. EPA's Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program designed to reduce the environmental impact of electricity generation by promoting renewable energy. This page provides a brief program overview, including vision and accomplishments.

Green Power Partnership Frequently Asked Questions

Science.gov (United States)

The U.S. EPA's Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program designed to reduce the environmental impact of electricity generation by promoting renewable energy. This page provides a brief program overview, including vision and accomplishments.

Green Power Partnership Top 30 Retail

Science.gov (United States)

EPA's Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program designed to reduce the environmental impact of electricity generation by promoting renewable energy. This list represents the largest green power users among retail partners within the GPP.

Reliability- and performance-based robust design optimization of MEMS structures considering technological uncertainties

Science.gov (United States)

Martowicz, Adam; Uhl, Tadeusz

2012-10-01

The paper discusses the applicability of a reliability- and performance-based multi-criteria robust design optimization technique for micro-electromechanical systems, considering their technological uncertainties. Nowadays, micro-devices are commonly applied systems, especially in the automotive industry, taking advantage of utilizing both the mechanical structure and electronic control circuit on one board. Their frequent use motivates the elaboration of virtual prototyping tools that can be applied in design optimization with the introduction of technological uncertainties and reliability. The authors present a procedure for the optimization of micro-devices, which is based on the theory of reliability-based robust design optimization. This takes into consideration the performance of a micro-device and its reliability assessed by means of uncertainty analysis. The procedure assumes that, for each checked design configuration, the assessment of uncertainty propagation is performed with the meta-modeling technique. The described procedure is illustrated with an example of the optimization carried out for a finite element model of a micro-mirror. The multi-physics approach allowed the introduction of several physical phenomena to correctly model the electrostatic actuation and the squeezing effect present between electrodes. The optimization was preceded by sensitivity analysis to establish the design and uncertain domains. The genetic algorithms fulfilled the defined optimization task effectively. The best discovered individuals are characterized by a minimized value of the multi-criteria objective function, simultaneously satisfying the constraint on material strength. The restriction of the maximum equivalent stresses was introduced with the conditionally formulated objective function with a penalty component. The yielded results were successfully verified with a global uniform search through the input design domain.

Low cost metamodel for robust design of periodic nonlinear coupled micro-systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chikhaoui K.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available To achieve robust design, in presence of uncertainty, nonlinearity and structural periodicity, a metamodel combining the Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS method for uncertainty propagation and an enriched Craig-Bampton Component Mode Synthesis approach (CB-CMS for model reduction is proposed. Its application to predict the time responses of a stochastic periodic nonlinear micro-system proves its efficiency in terms of accuracy and reduction of computational cost.

Integrating operation design into infrastructure planning to foster robustness of planned water systems

Science.gov (United States)

Bertoni, Federica; Giuliani, Matteo; Castelletti, Andrea

2017-04-01

Over the past years, many studies have looked at the planning and management of water infrastructure systems as two separate problems, where the dynamic component (i.e., operations) is considered only after the static problem (i.e., planning) has been resolved. Most recent works have started to investigate planning and management as two strictly interconnected faces of the same problem, where the former is solved jointly with the latter in an integrated framework. This brings advantages to multi-purpose water reservoir systems, where several optimal operating strategies exist and similar system designs might perform differently on the long term depending on the considered short-term operating tradeoff. An operationally robust design will be therefore one performing well across multiple feasible tradeoff operating policies. This work aims at studying the interaction between short-term operating strategies and their impacts on long-term structural decisions, when long-lived infrastructures with complex ecological impacts and multi-sectoral demands to satisfy (i.e., reservoirs) are considered. A parametric reinforcement learning approach is adopted for nesting optimization and control yielding to both optimal reservoir design and optimal operational policies for water reservoir systems. The method is demonstrated on a synthetic reservoir that must be designed and operated for ensuring reliable water supply to downstream users. At first, the optimal design capacity derived is compared with the 'no-fail storage' computed through Rippl, a capacity design function that returns the minimum storage needed to satisfy specified water demands without allowing supply shortfall. Then, the optimal reservoir volume is used to simulate the simplified case study under other operating objectives than water supply, in order to assess whether and how the system performance changes. The more robust the infrastructural design, the smaller the difference between the performances of

Robust Reliability or reliable robustness? - Integrated consideration of robustness and reliability aspects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kemmler, S.; Eifler, Tobias; Bertsche, B.

2015-01-01

products are and vice versa. For a comprehensive understanding and to use existing synergies between both domains, this paper discusses the basic principles of Reliability- and Robust Design theory. The development of a comprehensive model will enable an integrated consideration of both domains...

Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Susan M. Capalbo

2005-11-01

The Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership, led by Montana State University, is comprised of research institutions, public entities and private sectors organizations, and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the Nez Perce Tribe. Efforts under this Partnership in Phase I fall into four areas: evaluation of sources and carbon sequestration sinks that will be used to determine the location of pilot demonstrations in Phase II; development of GIS-based reporting framework that links with national networks; designing an integrated suite of monitoring, measuring, and verification technologies and assessment frameworks; and initiating a comprehensive education and outreach program. The groundwork is in place to provide an assessment of storage capabilities for CO2 utilizing the resources found in the Partnership region (both geological and terrestrial sinks), that would complement the ongoing DOE research agenda in Carbon Sequestration. The region has a diverse array of geological formations that could provide storage options for carbon in one or more of its three states. Likewise, initial estimates of terrestrial sinks indicate a vast potential for increasing and maintaining soil C on forested, agricultural, and reclaimed lands. Both options include the potential for offsetting economic benefits to industry and society. Steps have been taken to assure that the GIS-based framework is consistent among types of sinks within the Big Sky Partnership area and with the efforts of other DOE regional partnerships. The Partnership recognizes the critical importance of measurement, monitoring, and verification technologies to support not only carbon trading but all policies and programs that DOE and other agencies may want to pursue in support of GHG mitigation. The efforts in developing and implementing MMV technologies for geological sequestration reflect this concern. Research is also underway to identify and validate best management practices for soil C in the

Growing partnerships: leveraging the power of collaboration through the Medical Education Partnership Initiative.

Science.gov (United States)

Olapade-Olaopa, Emiola Oluwabunmi; Baird, Sarah; Kiguli-Malwadde, Elsie; Kolars, Joseph C

2014-08-01

A major goal of the Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI) is to improve local health systems by strengthening medical education in Sub-Saharan Africa. A new approach to collaboration was intended to overcome the one-sided nature of many partnerships that often provide more rewards to institutions from wealthy countries than to their Sub-Saharan African counterparts. The benefits of this MEPI approach are reflected in at least five positive outcomes. First, effective partnerships have been developed across a diverse group of MEPI stakeholders. Second, a "community of practice" has been established to continue strengthening medical education in Sub-Saharan Africa. Third, links have been strengthened among MEPI health science schools in Sub-Saharan Africa, their communities, and ministries of both health and education. Fourth, respect among partners in the United States for a culture of ownership and self-determinism among their African counterparts committed to improving education has been enhanced. And finally, performance metrics for strengthening of health science education in Sub-Saharan Africa have been advanced. Meanwhile, partner medical schools in the United States have witnessed the benefits of collaborating across traditional disciplinary boundaries, such as physicians working within highly functioning community-based health care teams with many of the participating schools in Sub-Saharan Africa. MEPI demonstrates that North-South as well as South-South partnerships, with an explicit focus on improving local health systems through better education, can be designed to empower partners in the South with support from collaborators in the North.

Audit, Control and Monitoring Design Patterns (ACMDP for Autonomous Robust Systems (ARS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Trad

2008-11-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes the Audit, Control and Monitoring Design Patterns (ACMDP for building Autonomous and Robust Systems (ARS such as Mobile Robot Systems (MRS. These patterns are also applicable to other Mission Critical and Complex Systems (MCCS. This paper presents a proposal which will help ARS project managers and engineers design, build and estimate the probability that an ARS will succeed or fail. Furthermore, this proposal offers the possibility to ARS problems with the help of audit, monitoring and controlling components, adjust the project management pathways, and define the problem sources as well as their possible solutions, in order to deliver an ARS or an MRS.

Lessons learnt from the MAGNET Malawian-German Hospital Partnership: the German perspective on contributions to patient care and capacity development.

Science.gov (United States)

Neuhann, Florian; Barteit, Sandra

2017-07-26

was judged as a positive driver for change and support within the Medical Department, but eventually failed to implement self-sustainable, robust processes within the partnership to cope with multiple changes and challenges. The MAGNET partnership made a considerable contribution to patient care, continuous medical education and operations research at KCH, despite its abrupt termination. Changes in the institutional infrastructure, donor policy and interpersonal relations contributed to the loss of shared expectations and the end of the project. Institutional-hospital partnerships, like MAGNET, can make a valuable contribution to health care provision and hence a wider health agenda, provided there is a flexible, mutually agreed upon strategy, personal commitment, continuous communication and robust processes. However, partnership projects remain vulnerable to the influences of external actors and structures. Ministries of Health and donor agencies should appreciate the particular strength of hospital partnerships.

The Partnership Pact: Fulfilling School Districts' Research Needs with University-District Partnerships

Science.gov (United States)

Ralston, Nicole; Weitzel, Bruce; Waggoner, Jacqueline; Naegele, Zulema; Smith, Rebecca

2016-01-01

There has been a recent shift in university-district partnership models from traditional transactional partnerships, which lack a shared purpose, to transformational partnerships that are mutually beneficial to both universities and school districts. These transformational research-practice partnerships have gained popularity in the United States…

Robust structural optimization using Gauss-type quadrature formula

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Sang Hoon; Seo, Ki Seog; Chen, Shikui; Chen, Wei

2009-01-01

In robust design, the mean and variance of design performance are frequently used to measure the design performance and its robustness under uncertainties. In this paper, we present the Gauss-type quadrature formula as a rigorous method for mean and variance estimation involving arbitrary input distributions and further extend its use to robust design optimization. One dimensional Gauss-type quadrature formula are constructed from the input probability distributions and utilized in the construction of multidimensional quadrature formula such as the Tensor Product Quadrature (TPQ) formula and the Univariate Dimension Reduction (UDR) method. To improve the efficiency of using it for robust design optimization, a semi-analytic design sensitivity analysis with respect to the statistical moments is proposed. The proposed approach is applied to a simple bench mark problems and robust topology optimization of structures considering various types of uncertainty.

Robust structural optimization using Gauss-type quadrature formula

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Sang Hoon; Seo, Ki Seog [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Chen, Shikui; Chen, Wei [Northwestern University, Illinois (United States)

2009-07-01

In robust design, the mean and variance of design performance are frequently used to measure the design performance and its robustness under uncertainties. In this paper, we present the Gauss-type quadrature formula as a rigorous method for mean and variance estimation involving arbitrary input distributions and further extend its use to robust design optimization. One dimensional Gauss-type quadrature formula are constructed from the input probability distributions and utilized in the construction of multidimensional quadrature formula such as the Tensor Product Quadrature (TPQ) formula and the Univariate Dimension Reduction (UDR) method. To improve the efficiency of using it for robust design optimization, a semi-analytic design sensitivity analysis with respect to the statistical moments is proposed. The proposed approach is applied to a simple bench mark problems and robust topology optimization of structures considering various types of uncertainty.

Robust Structural Optimization Using Gauss-type Quadrature Formula

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Sang Hoon; Seo, Ki Seog; Chen, Shikui; Chen, Wei [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2009-08-15

In robust design, the mean and variance of design performance are frequently used to measure the design performance and its robustness under uncertainties. In this paper, we present the Gauss-type quadrature formula as a rigorous method for mean and variance estimation involving arbitrary input distributions and further extend its use to robust design optimization. One dimensional Gauss-type quadrature formula are constructed from the input probability distributions and utilized in the construction of multidimensional quadrature formula such as the tensor product quadrature (TPQ) formula and the univariate dimension reduction (UDR) method. To improve the efficiency of using it for robust design optimization, a semi-analytic design sensitivity analysis with respect to the statistical moments is proposed. The proposed approach is applied to a simple bench mark problems and robust topology optimization of structures considering various types of uncertainty.

Robust Structural Optimization Using Gauss-type Quadrature Formula

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Sang Hoon; Seo, Ki Seog; Chen, Shikui; Chen, Wei

2009-01-01

In robust design, the mean and variance of design performance are frequently used to measure the design performance and its robustness under uncertainties. In this paper, we present the Gauss-type quadrature formula as a rigorous method for mean and variance estimation involving arbitrary input distributions and further extend its use to robust design optimization. One dimensional Gauss-type quadrature formula are constructed from the input probability distributions and utilized in the construction of multidimensional quadrature formula such as the tensor product quadrature (TPQ) formula and the univariate dimension reduction (UDR) method. To improve the efficiency of using it for robust design optimization, a semi-analytic design sensitivity analysis with respect to the statistical moments is proposed. The proposed approach is applied to a simple bench mark problems and robust topology optimization of structures considering various types of uncertainty

A robust PSSs design using PSO in a multi-machine environment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shayeghi, H., E-mail: hshayeghi@gmail.co [Technical Engineering Department, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Shayanfar, H.A. [Center of Excellence for Power Automation and Operation, Electrical Engineering Department, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Safari, A.; Aghmasheh, R. [Technical Engineering Department, Zanjan University, Zanjan (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2010-04-15

In this paper, multi-objective design of multi-machine power system stabilizers (PSSs) using particle swarm optimization (PSO) is proposed. The potential of the proposed approach for optimal setting of the widely used conventional lead-lag PSSs has been investigated. The stabilizers are tuned to simultaneously shift the lightly damped and undamped electromechanical modes of all machines to a prescribed zone in the s-plane. The PSSs parameters tuning problem is converted to an optimization problem with the eigenvalue-based multi-objective function comprising the damping factor, and the damping ratio of the lightly damped electromechanical modes, which is solved by a PSO algorithm which has a strong ability to find the most optimistic results. The robustness of the proposed PSO-based PSSs (PSOPSS) is verified on a multi-machine power system under different operating conditions and disturbances. The results of the proposed PSOPSS are compared with the genetic algorithm based tuned PSS and classical PSSs through eigenvalue analysis, nonlinear time-domain simulation and some performance indices to illustrate its robust performance for a wide range of loading conditions.

Sexual Partnership Patterns Among South African Adolescent Girls Enrolled in HPTN [corrected] 068: Measurement Challenges and Implications for HIV/STI Transmission.

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Nadia L; Powers, Kimberly A; Hughes, James P; MacPhail, Catherine L; Piwowar-Manning, Estelle; Patel, Eshan U; Gomez-Olive, F Xavier; Kahn, Kathleen; Pettifor, Audrey E

2015-11-01

Estimates of sexual partnership durations, gaps between partnerships, and overlaps across partnerships are important for understanding sexual partnership patterns and developing interventions to prevent transmission of HIV/sexually transmitted infections (STIs). However, a validated, optimal approach for estimating these parameters, particularly when partnerships are ongoing, has not been established. We assessed 4 approaches for estimating partnership parameters using cross-sectional reports on dates of first and most recent sex and partnership status (ongoing or not) from 654 adolescent girls in rural South Africa. The first, commonly used, approach assumes all partnerships have ended, resulting in underestimated durations for ongoing partnerships. The second approach treats reportedly ongoing partnerships as right-censored, resulting in bias if partnership status is reported with error. We propose 2 "hybrid" approaches, which assign partnership status to reportedly ongoing partnerships based on how recently girls last had sex with their partner. We estimate partnership duration, gap length, and overlap length under each approach using Kaplan-Meier methods with a robust variance estimator. Median partnership duration and overlap length varied considerably across approaches (from 368 to 1024 days and 168 to 409 days, respectively), but gap length was stable. Lifetime prevalence of concurrency ranged from 28% to 33%, and at least half of gap lengths were shorter than 6 months, suggesting considerable potential for HIV/STI transmission. Estimates of partnership duration and overlap lengths are highly dependent on measurement approach. Understanding the effect of different approaches on estimates is critical for interpreting partnership data and using estimates to predict HIV/STI transmission rates.

Theoretical Framework for Robustness Evaluation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

2011-01-01

This paper presents a theoretical framework for evaluation of robustness of structural systems, incl. bridges and buildings. Typically modern structural design codes require that ‘the consequence of damages to structures should not be disproportional to the causes of the damages’. However, although...... the importance of robustness for structural design is widely recognized the code requirements are not specified in detail, which makes the practical use difficult. This paper describes a theoretical and risk based framework to form the basis for quantification of robustness and for pre-normative guidelines...

A Unifying Mathematical Framework for Genetic Robustness, Environmental Robustness, Network Robustness and their Trade-offs on Phenotype Robustness in Biological Networks. Part III: Synthetic Gene Networks in Synthetic Biology

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Bor-Sen; Lin, Ying-Po

2013-01-01

Robust stabilization and environmental disturbance attenuation are ubiquitous systematic properties that are observed in biological systems at many different levels. The underlying principles for robust stabilization and environmental disturbance attenuation are universal to both complex biological systems and sophisticated engineering systems. In many biological networks, network robustness should be large enough to confer: intrinsic robustness for tolerating intrinsic parameter fluctuations; genetic robustness for buffering genetic variations; and environmental robustness for resisting environmental disturbances. Network robustness is needed so phenotype stability of biological network can be maintained, guaranteeing phenotype robustness. Synthetic biology is foreseen to have important applications in biotechnology and medicine; it is expected to contribute significantly to a better understanding of functioning of complex biological systems. This paper presents a unifying mathematical framework for investigating the principles of both robust stabilization and environmental disturbance attenuation for synthetic gene networks in synthetic biology. Further, from the unifying mathematical framework, we found that the phenotype robustness criterion for synthetic gene networks is the following: if intrinsic robustness + genetic robustness + environmental robustness ≦ network robustness, then the phenotype robustness can be maintained in spite of intrinsic parameter fluctuations, genetic variations, and environmental disturbances. Therefore, the trade-offs between intrinsic robustness, genetic robustness, environmental robustness, and network robustness in synthetic biology can also be investigated through corresponding phenotype robustness criteria from the systematic point of view. Finally, a robust synthetic design that involves network evolution algorithms with desired behavior under intrinsic parameter fluctuations, genetic variations, and environmental

How to implement and apply robust design: insights from industrial practice

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Krogstie, Lars; Ebro, Martin; Howard, Thomas J.

2015-01-01

. Empirical findings are based on a series of semi-structured interviews with four major engineering companies in Northern Europe. We present why they were motivated to use RD, how it has been implemented and currently applied. Success factors for solving implementation challenges are also presented......Robust design (RD) is a framework for designing products and processes which perform consistently in spite of variations. Although it is well described in literature, research shows limited industrial application. The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss industrial best-practice on RD...... have all been successful in using RD but with quite different approaches, depending on, for example, their organisational culture, and (3) Not just management commitment, but also true management competencies in RD are essential for a successful implementation. The paper is aimed at professionals...

Analytical quality by design: a tool for regulatory flexibility and robust analytics.

Science.gov (United States)

Peraman, Ramalingam; Bhadraya, Kalva; Padmanabha Reddy, Yiragamreddy

2015-01-01

Very recently, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a few new drug applications (NDA) with regulatory flexibility for quality by design (QbD) based analytical approach. The concept of QbD applied to analytical method development is known now as AQbD (analytical quality by design). It allows the analytical method for movement within method operable design region (MODR). Unlike current methods, analytical method developed using analytical quality by design (AQbD) approach reduces the number of out-of-trend (OOT) results and out-of-specification (OOS) results due to the robustness of the method within the region. It is a current trend among pharmaceutical industry to implement analytical quality by design (AQbD) in method development process as a part of risk management, pharmaceutical development, and pharmaceutical quality system (ICH Q10). Owing to the lack explanatory reviews, this paper has been communicated to discuss different views of analytical scientists about implementation of AQbD in pharmaceutical quality system and also to correlate with product quality by design and pharmaceutical analytical technology (PAT).

Green Power Partnership Long-term Contracts

Science.gov (United States)

The U.S. EPA's Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program designed to reduce the environmental impact of electricity generation by promoting renewable energy. This page lists Partners that signed a contract to purchase green power for 5 years or more.

Partnership between Japan and North Atlantic treaty organization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Budimir Željko

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In the paper, the relationship between Japan and the North Atlantic Alliance, the development of their partnership and Japan's contribution to the NATO missions throughout the world, as well as the current status that Japan has in the Alliance, are described and explained. The authors of the paper have presented and explained the models of cooperation between the two sides and the perspectives of their future relationships as well. Apart from the said, the internal political and legal transformation of Japan, directed towards the country's greater and more robust engagement in international missions, including the use of force, which has carefully been avoided in the past seven decades due to constitutional and legal limitations, is also shown in parallel with that. The underlying thesis statement of the paper reads as follows: Japan's coming closer to NATO, i.e. the strengthening of their partnership and the elimination of legal obstacles in Japan itself to the use of force in international politics, are complementary processes. In the paper, the analytical, synthetic and comparative methods are used.

Guidance for research-practice partnerships (R-PPs) and collaborative research.

Science.gov (United States)

Ovretveit, John; Hempel, Susanne; Magnabosco, Jennifer L; Mittman, Brian S; Rubenstein, Lisa V; Ganz, David A

2014-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence based guidance to researchers and practice personnel about forming and carrying out effective research partnerships. A review of the literature, interviews and discussions with colleagues in both research and practice roles, and a review of the authors' personal experiences as researchers in partnership research. Partnership research is, in some respects, a distinct "approach" to research, but there are many different versions. An analysis of research publications and of their research experience led the authors to develop a framework for planning and assessing the partnership research process, which includes defining expected outcomes for the partners, their roles, and steps in the research process. This review and analysis provides guidance that may reduce commonly-reported misunderstandings and help to plan more successful partnerships and projects. It also identifies future research which is needed to define more precisely the questions and purposes for which partnership research is most appropriate, and methods and designs for specific types of partnership research. As more research moves towards increased participation of practitioners and patients in the research process, more precise and differentiated understanding of the different partnership approaches is required, and when each is most suitable. This article describes research approaches that have the potential to reduce "the research-practice gap". It gives evidence- and experience-based guidance for choosing and establishing a partnership research process, so as to improve partnership relationship-building and more actionable research.

Ingredients for successful partnerships

NARCIS (Netherlands)

S.M. Pfisterer (Stella)

2011-01-01

textabstractFor the development of new cross-sector partnerships it is required to know what the essence of successful partnership projects is. Which factors influence success or failure of partnerships is highly related to the specific context where partnerships operate. The literature on critical

Partnerships as Interpellation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Sigrid Bjerre; Jensen, Steffen

2017-01-01

of the political partnership between Liberia and the European Union, and the partnership between a South African and a Danish NGO. Both illustrate how neither donor nor recipient, as it is otherwise often assumed, can univocally announce a partnership. Rather, representatives of the institutions involved mutually...

Robust design in generelaised linear models for improving the quality of polyurethane soles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Castro, Armando Mares

2015-11-01

Full Text Available In a process that manufactures polyurethane soles by casting, a number of problems lead to different types of defects on the sole, causing significant economic losses for the company. In order to improve the product quality and decrease the number of defects, this study conducts an experimental design in the context of robust design. Since the response variable is binary, the statistical analysis was performed using generalised linear models. The operational methodology reduced the percentage of defects, while combining the experimental technique and control systems to achieve superior quality and a consequent reduction in costs.

Design and Implement a Digital H∞ Robust Controller for a MW-Class PMSG-Based Grid-Interactive Wind Energy Conversion System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomonobu Senjyu

2013-04-01

Full Text Available A digital H∞ controller for a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG based wind energy conversion system (WECS is presented. Wind energy is an uncertain fluctuating resource which requires a tight control management. So, it is still an exigent task for the control design engineers. The conventional proportional-integral (PI control is not ideal during high turbulence wind velocities, and the nonlinear behavior of the power converters. These are raising interest towards the robust control concepts. The robust design is to find a controller, for a given system, such that the closed-loop system becomes robust that assurance high-integrity and fault tolerant control system, robust H∞ control theory has befallen a standard design method of choice over the past two decades in industrial control applications. The robust H∞ control theory is also gaining eminence in the WECS. Due to the implementation complexity for the continuous H∞ controller, and availability of the high speedy micro-controllers, the design of a sample-data or a digital H∞ controller is very important for the realistic implementation. But there isn’t a single research to evaluate the performance of the digital H∞ controller for the WECS. In this paper, the proposed digital H∞ controller schemes comprise for the both generator and grid interactive power converters, and the control performances are compared with the conventional PI controller and the fuzzy controller. Simulation results confirm the efficacy of the proposed method Energies 2013, 6 2085 which are ensured the WECS stabilities, mitigate shaft stress, and improving the DC-link voltage and output power qualities.

Annual Partnership Report, 2016

Science.gov (United States)

Wyoming Community College Commission, 2016

2016-01-01

The "Annual Partnership Report" catalogs partnerships that Wyoming community colleges established and maintained for each fiscal year. This partnership report fulfills statutory reporting requirement W.S. 21-18-202(e)(iv) which mandates the development of annual reports to the legislature on the outcomes of partnerships between colleges…

AP1000{sup R} design robustness against extreme external events - Seismic, flooding, and aircraft crash

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pfister, A.; Goossen, C.; Coogler, K.; Gorgemans, J. [Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, 1000 Westinghouse Drive, Cranberry Township, PA 16066 (United States)

2012-07-01

Both the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) require existing and new nuclear power plants to conduct plant assessments to demonstrate the unit's ability to withstand external hazards. The events that occurred at the Fukushima-Dai-ichi nuclear power station demonstrated the importance of designing a nuclear power plant with the ability to protect the plant against extreme external hazards. The innovative design of the AP1000{sup R} nuclear power plant provides unparalleled protection against catastrophic external events which can lead to extensive infrastructure damage and place the plant in an extended abnormal situation. The AP1000 plant is an 1100-MWe pressurized water reactor with passive safety features and extensive plant simplifications that enhance construction, operation, maintenance and safety. The plant's compact safety related footprint and protection provided by its robust nuclear island structures prevent significant damage to systems, structures, and components required to safely shutdown the plant and maintain core and spent fuel pool cooling and containment integrity following extreme external events. The AP1000 nuclear power plant has been extensively analyzed and reviewed to demonstrate that it's nuclear island design and plant layout provide protection against both design basis and extreme beyond design basis external hazards such as extreme seismic events, external flooding that exceeds the maximum probable flood limit, and malicious aircraft impact. The AP1000 nuclear power plant uses fail safe passive features to mitigate design basis accidents. The passive safety systems are designed to function without safety-grade support systems (such as AC power, component cooling water, service water, compressed air or HVAC). The plant has been designed to protect systems, structures, and components critical to placing the reactor in a safe shutdown condition within the steel

Risk Sharing Partnerships With Suppliers: The Case of EMBRAER

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paulo Figueiredo

2008-04-01

Full Text Available Since the mid 1990s, the global aircraft industry has been creating new solutions for product development. Risk-sharing partnerships with suppliers began to be established in an attempt to reduce investments and, consequentially, the dependence on loans. The partners began not only to invest in tooling, engineering and infrastructure, but also to participate more directly in the projects, in the investments and design activities, acquiring rights to future sales income of products. This contractual modality, called risk-sharing partnership, is the focus of this study. Specifically, it analyzes the risk-sharing partnerships made by Embraer during the projects of the ERJ-170/190 family of aircrafts. It also aims to justify these partnerships, considering the current global aircraft market conditions, evaluating the critical success factors, requirements and macro-economic conditions which supported the adoption of this new policy.

Planned approaches to business and school partnerships. Does it make a difference? The business perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Kerry; Hope, John; Abdulghani, Fatima

2016-04-01

In many countries, schools are encouraged to link with business to add authenticity to learning. The number of these business-school partnerships has shown a marked increase over the last twenty years. Traditionally researchers investigating these partnerships have focussed on the schools' perspectives (Du, Bhattacharya, & Sen, 2010, pp. 32-33), however this New Zealand research has focused solely on the business perspective of established school partnerships. The study used a mixed methods approach utilising both online survey and semi-structured interviews. Ten out of the forty participating businesses surveyed used a brokering organisation as a way of developing and maintaining these partnerships and some developed rationales to support the partnership. This study investigated the value of using brokering organisations, rationales and designated staff to support business-school partnerships. Findings indicate that brokers and designated staff play a very effective role in enhancing business-school links, and more benefits are perceived when a rationale has been established. It is anticipated that these findings will support the development and success of business-school partnerships. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of a partnership support program for couples undergoing fertility treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Asazawa, Kyoko

2015-10-01

The study's purpose was to examine the effects of providing a partnership support program. It was designed to improve Japanese couples' partnership, maintain quality of life, decrease psychological distress, and improve marital relationship satisfaction while they underwent infertility treatment that included the possibility of using assisted reproductive technology. This quasi-experimental study with a two-group pretest-post-test design used purposive sampling and non-random assignment of 318 consenting Japanese patients from previous phases of assisted reproductive technology fertility treatment who were patients from a fertility clinic in Tokyo, Japan. The intervention group of 152 patients (76 couples) participated in the partnership support program. The comparison group of 166 patients (83 couples) received usual care. Recruitment was age matched. The program provided information and used a participatory-interactive approach to enhance understanding and cooperation in couples undergoing fertility treatment. The main outcome measures were: "partnership", FertiQoL, Quality Marriage Index, and "psychological distress". There were 311 participants (intervention group n = 148; comparison group, n = 163). The intervention group showed significant improvement in the couples' partnerships and a significant decrease in women's psychological distress using subgroup analysis. The partnership support program provided effective improvement in partnership for the couples, and reduced psychological distress for the women; however, it had less impact for the men. The program was not effective in improving couples' overall quality of life (QOL); however, it was effective in improving the "mind-body" aspects of the QOL subscale. © 2015 The Author. Japan Journal of Nursing Science © 2015 Japan Academy of Nursing Science.

Robust Design of LCL-Filters for Active Damping in Grid Converters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Alzola, Rafael Pena; Liserre, Marco; Blaabjerg, Frede

2013-01-01

Grid converters require a simple inductor or an LCL-filter to limit the current ripples. The LCL-filter is nowadays the preferred solution as it allows lower inductance values. In order to solve the stability concerns, active damping is preferred to passive damping since it does not use dissipative...... elements. However, large variations in the grid inductance and resonances arising from parallel converters may still compromise the system stability. This calls for a robust design of LCL-filters with active damping. This paper proposes a design flow with little iteration for two well-known methods, namely...... lead-lag network and current capacitor feedback. The proposed formulas for the resonance frequency, grid and converter inductance ratio, and capacitance of the LCL-filter allow calculating all the LCL-filter parameters. An estimation for the achieved Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) of the grid current...

Electronic structure robustness and design rules for 2D colloidal heterostructures

Science.gov (United States)

Chu, Audrey; Livache, Clément; Ithurria, Sandrine; Lhuillier, Emmanuel

2018-01-01

Among the colloidal quantum dots, 2D nanoplatelets present exceptionally narrow optical features. Rationalizing the design of heterostructures of these objects is of utmost interest; however, very little work has been focused on the investigation of their electronic properties. This work is organized into two main parts. In the first part, we use 1D solving of the Schrödinger equation to extract the effective masses for nanoplatelets (NPLs) of CdSe, CdS, and CdTe and the valence band offset for NPL core/shell of CdSe/CdS. In the second part, using the determined parameters, we quantize how the spectra of the CdSe/CdS heterostructure get affected by (i) the application of an electric field and (ii) by the presence of a dull interface. We also propose design strategies to make the heterostructure even more robust.

A traditional and a less-invasive robust design: choices in optimizing effort allocation for seabird population studies

Science.gov (United States)

Converse, S.J.; Kendall, W.L.; Doherty, P.F.; Naughton, M.B.; Hines, J.E.; Thomson, David L.; Cooch, Evan G.; Conroy, Michael J.

2009-01-01

For many animal populations, one or more life stages are not accessible to sampling, and therefore an unobservable state is created. For colonially-breeding populations, this unobservable state could represent the subset of adult breeders that have foregone breeding in a given year. This situation applies to many seabird populations, notably albatrosses, where skipped breeders are either absent from the colony, or are present but difficult to capture or correctly assign to breeding state. Kendall et al. have proposed design strategies for investigations of seabird demography where such temporary emigration occurs, suggesting the use of the robust design to permit the estimation of time-dependent parameters and to increase the precision of estimates from multi-state models. A traditional robust design, where animals are subject to capture multiple times in a sampling season, is feasible in many cases. However, due to concerns that multiple captures per season could cause undue disturbance to animals, Kendall et al. developed a less-invasive robust design (LIRD), where initial captures are followed by an assessment of the ratio of marked-to-unmarked birds in the population or sampled plot. This approach has recently been applied in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands to populations of Laysan (Phoebastria immutabilis) and black-footed (P. nigripes) albatrosses. In this paper, we outline the LIRD and its application to seabird population studies. We then describe an approach to determining optimal allocation of sampling effort in which we consider a non-robust design option (nRD), and variations of both the traditional robust design (RD), and the LIRD. Variations we considered included the number of secondary sampling occasions for the RD and the amount of total effort allocated to the marked-to-unmarked ratio assessment for the LIRD. We used simulations, informed by early data from the Hawaiian study, to address optimal study design for our example cases. We found that

Robust Analysis and Design of Multivariable Systems

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Tannenbaum, Allen

1998-01-01

In this Final Report, we will describe the work we have performed in robust control theory and nonlinear control, and the utilization of techniques in image processing and computer vision for problems in visual tracking...

Modular design of metabolic network for robust production of n-butanol from galactose-glucose mixtures.

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Hyun Gyu; Lim, Jae Hyung; Jung, Gyoo Yeol

2015-01-01

Refactoring microorganisms for efficient production of advanced biofuel such as n-butanol from a mixture of sugars in the cheap feedstock is a prerequisite to achieve economic feasibility in biorefinery. However, production of biofuel from inedible and cheap feedstock is highly challenging due to the slower utilization of biomass-driven sugars, arising from complex assimilation pathway, difficulties in amplification of biosynthetic pathways for heterologous metabolite, and redox imbalance caused by consuming intracellular reducing power to produce quite reduced biofuel. Even with these problems, the microorganisms should show robust production of biofuel to obtain industrial feasibility. Thus, refactoring microorganisms for efficient conversion is highly desirable in biofuel production. In this study, we engineered robust Escherichia coli to accomplish high production of n-butanol from galactose-glucose mixtures via the design of modular pathway, an efficient and systematic way, to reconstruct the entire metabolic pathway with many target genes. Three modular pathways designed using the predictable genetic elements were assembled for efficient galactose utilization, n-butanol production, and redox re-balancing to robustly produce n-butanol from a sugar mixture of galactose and glucose. Specifically, the engineered strain showed dramatically increased n-butanol production (3.3-fold increased to 6.2 g/L after 48-h fermentation) compared to the parental strain (1.9 g/L) in galactose-supplemented medium. Moreover, fermentation with mixtures of galactose and glucose at various ratios from 2:1 to 1:2 confirmed that our engineered strain was able to robustly produce n-butanol regardless of sugar composition with simultaneous utilization of galactose and glucose. Collectively, modular pathway engineering of metabolic network can be an effective approach in strain development for optimal biofuel production with cost-effective fermentable sugars. To the best of our

Robust transceiver design for reciprocal M × N interference channel based on statistical linearization approximation

Science.gov (United States)

Mayvan, Ali D.; Aghaeinia, Hassan; Kazemi, Mohammad

2017-12-01

This paper focuses on robust transceiver design for throughput enhancement on the interference channel (IC), under imperfect channel state information (CSI). In this paper, two algorithms are proposed to improve the throughput of the multi-input multi-output (MIMO) IC. Each transmitter and receiver has, respectively, M and N antennas and IC operates in a time division duplex mode. In the first proposed algorithm, each transceiver adjusts its filter to maximize the expected value of signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR). On the other hand, the second algorithm tries to minimize the variances of the SINRs to hedge against the variability due to CSI error. Taylor expansion is exploited to approximate the effect of CSI imperfection on mean and variance. The proposed robust algorithms utilize the reciprocity of wireless networks to optimize the estimated statistical properties in two different working modes. Monte Carlo simulations are employed to investigate sum rate performance of the proposed algorithms and the advantage of incorporating variation minimization into the transceiver design.

Experimental Optimization In Polymer BLEND Composite Preparation Based On Mix Level of Taguchi Robust Design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abdul Aziz Mohamed; Jaafar Abdullah; Dahlan Mohd; Rozaidi Rasid; Megat Harun AlRashid Megat Ahmad; Mahathir Mohamad; Mohd Hamzah Harun

2012-01-01

L 18 orthogonal array in mix level of Taguchi robust design method was carried out to optimize experimental conditions for the preparation of polymer blend composite. Tensile strength and neutron absorption of the composite were the properties of interest. Filler size, filler loading, ball mixing time and dispersion agent concentration were selected as parameters or factors which are expected to affect the composite properties. As a result of Taguchi analysis, filler loading was the most influencing parameter on the tensile strength and neutron absorption. The least influencing was ball-mixing time. The optimal conditions were determined by using mix-level Taguchi robust design method and a polymer composite with tensile strength of 6.33 MPa was successfully prepared. The composite was found to fully absorb thermal neutron flux of 1.04 x 10 5 n/ cm 2 / s with only 2 mm in thickness. In addition, the filler was also characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and elemental analysis (EDX). (Author)

A study of a museum-school partnership

Science.gov (United States)

Wojton, Mary Ann

Partnerships between museums and schools never have been more important than they are today. Schools, especially urban schools, are facing challenges, including low student achievement and difficulty obtaining funding. Partners can help schools overcome these challenges by sharing educational and financial resources. Nearly 11,000 American museums spend more than $1 billion annually to provide over 18 million instructional hours for k-12 educational programs such as professional development for teachers, guided field trips, and staff visits to schools. Museums would seem like natural partners for challenged urban schools. Yet museums and schools struggle to establish and maintain effective partnerships. This study examined a partnership between a science center and an urban elementary school to provide additional knowledge and resources for those in the field to overcome these challenges in order to create relationships that help students. Using qualitative methods with interpretive descriptive purposes (Erickson, 1986; Glesne, 1999; Lincoln & Guba, 2000), the research design is based on several methods of data collection, including face-to-face, semi-structured interviews; observations; written text; and field notes. Participants in this study included students, parents, teachers, school administrators and museum educators. In addition, adult representatives of community organizations were interviewed to determine the impact of the partnership on the community. The study found that an effective partnership will have four basic elements: mutual goals, communication plan, key leader support, planning and research, and four interpersonal elements: personal responsibility, honesty, communication at the intimate level, and trust. Partners may have difficulty developing these to their fullest extent due to time limitations. No partnership is perfect. By creating strong interpersonal relationships, partners can mitigate challenges caused by limited basic elements and

Robustness of structures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vrouwenvelder, T.; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

2009-01-01

After the collapse of the World Trade Centre towers in 2001 and a number of collapses of structural systems in the beginning of the century, robustness of structural systems has gained renewed interest. Despite many significant theoretical, methodical and technological advances, structural...... of robustness for structural design such requirements are not substantiated in more detail, nor have the engineering profession been able to agree on an interpretation of robustness which facilitates for its uantification. A European COST action TU 601 on ‘Robustness of structures' has started in 2007...... by a group of members of the CSS. This paper describes the ongoing work in this action, with emphasis on the development of a theoretical and risk based quantification and optimization procedure on the one side and a practical pre-normative guideline on the other....

31 CFR 306.87 - Partnerships (including nominee partnerships).

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... (including nominee partnerships). An assignment of a security registered in the name of or assigned to a... appropriate for winding up partnership affairs. In those cases where assignments by or in behalf of all... dissolution. Upon voluntary dissolution, for any jurisdiction where a general partner may not act in winding...

Framework for Robustness Assessment of Timber Structures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

2011-01-01

This paper presents a theoretical framework for the design and analysis of robustness of timber structures. This is actualized by a more4 frequent use of advanced types of timber structures with limited redundancy and serious consequences in the case of failure. Combined with increased requirements...... to efficiency in design and execution followed by increased risk of human errors has made the need of requirements to robustness of new structures essential. Further, the collapse of the Ballerup Super Arena, the bad Reichenhall Ice-Arena and a number of other structural systems during the last 10 years has...... increased the interest in robustness. Typically, modern structural design codes require that ‘the consequence of damages to structures should not be disproportional to the causes of the damages’. However, although the importance of robustness for structural design is widely recognized, the code requirements...

BIG SKY CARBON SEQUESTRATION PARTNERSHIP

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Susan M. Capalbo

2004-10-31

The Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership, led by Montana State University, is comprised of research institutions, public entities and private sectors organizations, and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the Nez Perce Tribe. Efforts under this Partnership fall into four areas: evaluation of sources and carbon sequestration sinks; development of GIS-based reporting framework; designing an integrated suite of monitoring, measuring, and verification technologies; and initiating a comprehensive education and outreach program. At the first two Partnership meetings the groundwork was put in place to provide an assessment of capture and storage capabilities for CO{sub 2} utilizing the resources found in the Partnership region (both geological and terrestrial sinks), that would complement the ongoing DOE research. During the third quarter, planning efforts are underway for the next Partnership meeting which will showcase the architecture of the GIS framework and initial results for sources and sinks, discuss the methods and analysis underway for assessing geological and terrestrial sequestration potentials. The meeting will conclude with an ASME workshop. The region has a diverse array of geological formations that could provide storage options for carbon in one or more of its three states. Likewise, initial estimates of terrestrial sinks indicate a vast potential for increasing and maintaining soil C on forested, agricultural, and reclaimed lands. Both options include the potential for offsetting economic benefits to industry and society. Steps have been taken to assure that the GIS-based framework is consistent among types of sinks within the Big Sky Partnership area and with the efforts of other western DOE partnerships. Efforts are also being made to find funding to include Wyoming in the coverage areas for both geological and terrestrial sinks and sources. The Partnership recognizes the critical importance of measurement, monitoring, and verification

An Academic-Practice Partnership to Advance DNP Education and Practice.

Science.gov (United States)

Howard, Patricia B; Williams, Tracy E

During the past decade, the growth of doctor of nursing practice (DNP) programs in the United States has been phenomenal, with most focusing on the preparation of advanced practice registered nurses. Simultaneously, academic-practice partnerships have been a frequent subject of discussion for nursing's leading academic, administrative, and practice organizations. Numerous reports about academic-practice partnerships concerning aspects of baccalaureate nursing education exist, but partnership accounts for DNP programs are essentially nonexistent. The purpose of this article is to describe the initial phase of an academic-practice partnership between a multisystem health care organization and a college of nursing in a public land-grant university in the southeastern United States. The 7-year partnership agreement between Norton Healthcare and the University of Kentucky College of Nursing was designed to prepare 5 cohorts of 20 to 30 baccalaureate-prepared staff nurses as DNP graduates for advanced practice registered nurse eligibility. The description of partnering institution characteristics frames an emphasis on elements of the partnership proposal, contractual agreement, and partner responsibilities along with the logic model evaluation plan. Lessons learned include the importance of proposals and contracts to sustain the partnership, frequent communication to build trust, and strategic analysis for rapid response to challenging situations. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Partnership in Opportunities for Employment through Technologies ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Partnership in Opportunities for Employment through Technologies in the ... POETA will work with designated local partners to provide training for youth at risk. ... of the program; a Web-based civic education module for use in POETA centres; ...

Partnership for a Healthier America: Creating Change Through Private Sector Partnerships.

Science.gov (United States)

Simon, Caitlin; Kocot, S Lawrence; Dietz, William H

2017-06-01

This review provides background on the formation of the Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), that was created in conjunction with the Let's Move! initiative, and an overview of its work to date. To encourage industry to offer and promote healthier options, PHA partners with the private sector. Principles that guide PHA partnerships include ensuring that partnerships represent meaningful change, partners sign a legally binding contract and progress is monitored and publicly reported. Since 2010, PHA has established private sector partnerships in an effort to transform the marketplace to ensure that every child has the chance to grow up at a healthy weight. Many agreements between PHA and its industry partners align with the White House Task Force Report on Childhood Obesity. The reach and impact of over 200 partnerships attest to the success of this initiative.

Green Power Partnership 100 Green Power Users

Science.gov (United States)

EPA's Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program designed to reduce the environmental impact of electricity generation by promoting renewable energy. Partners on this list use green power to meet 100 of their U.S. organization-wide electricity use.

A Proposal for Public and Private Partnership in Extension.

Science.gov (United States)

Krell, Rayda K; Fisher, Marc L; Steffey, Kevin L

2016-01-01

Public funding for Extension in the United States has been decreasing for many years, but farmers' need for robust information on which to make management decisions has not diminished. The current Extension funding challenges provide motivation to explore a different model for developing and delivering extension. The private sector has partnered with the public sector to fund and conduct agricultural research, but partnering on extension delivery has occurred far less frequently. The fundamental academic strength and established Extension network of the public sector combined with the ability of the private sector to encourage and deliver practical, implementable solutions has the potential to provide measurable benefits to farmers. This paper describes the current Extension climate, presents data from a survey about Extension and industry relationships, presents case studies of successful public- and private-sector extension partnerships, and proposes a framework for evaluating the state of effective partnerships. Synergistic public-private extension efforts could ensure that farmers receive the most current and balanced information available to help with their management decisions.

Danish Requirements for Robustness of Structures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, John Dalsgaard; Christensen, H. H.

2006-01-01

. This paper describes the background of the revised robustness requirements implemented in the Danish Code of Practice for Safety of Structures in 2003 [1, 2, 3]. According to the Danish design rules robustness shall be documented for all structures where consequences of failure are serious. This paper...... describes the background of the design procedure in the Danish codes, which shall be followed in order to document sufficient robustness in the following steps: Step 1: review of loads and possible failure modes/scenarios and determination of acceptable collapse extent. Step 2: review of the structural...

Adaptive Critic Nonlinear Robust Control: A Survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Ding; He, Haibo; Liu, Derong

2017-10-01

Adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) and reinforcement learning are quite relevant to each other when performing intelligent optimization. They are both regarded as promising methods involving important components of evaluation and improvement, at the background of information technology, such as artificial intelligence, big data, and deep learning. Although great progresses have been achieved and surveyed when addressing nonlinear optimal control problems, the research on robustness of ADP-based control strategies under uncertain environment has not been fully summarized. Hence, this survey reviews the recent main results of adaptive-critic-based robust control design of continuous-time nonlinear systems. The ADP-based nonlinear optimal regulation is reviewed, followed by robust stabilization of nonlinear systems with matched uncertainties, guaranteed cost control design of unmatched plants, and decentralized stabilization of interconnected systems. Additionally, further comprehensive discussions are presented, including event-based robust control design, improvement of the critic learning rule, nonlinear H ∞ control design, and several notes on future perspectives. By applying the ADP-based optimal and robust control methods to a practical power system and an overhead crane plant, two typical examples are provided to verify the effectiveness of theoretical results. Overall, this survey is beneficial to promote the development of adaptive critic control methods with robustness guarantee and the construction of higher level intelligent systems.

Robustness - theoretical framework

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, John Dalsgaard; Rizzuto, Enrico; Faber, Michael H.

2010-01-01

More frequent use of advanced types of structures with limited redundancy and serious consequences in case of failure combined with increased requirements to efficiency in design and execution followed by increased risk of human errors has made the need of requirements to robustness of new struct...... of this fact sheet is to describe a theoretical and risk based framework to form the basis for quantification of robustness and for pre-normative guidelines....

Design of the robust synchronous generator stator voltage regulator based on the interval plant model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stojić Đorđe

2013-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper a novel method for the stator voltage regulator of a synchronous generator based on the interval plant mode, is presented. Namely, it is shown in the literature that, in order to design a controller for the first-order compensator, the limited number of interval plants needs to be examined. Consequently, the intervals of the plant model parameter variations used to calculate the four extreme interval plants required for the sequential PI controller design are determined. The controller is designed using frequency-domain-based techniques, while its robust performance is examined using simulation tests.

Disease-management partnership functioning, synergy and effectiveness in delivering chronic-illness care.

Science.gov (United States)

Cramm, Jane Murray; Nieboer, Anna Petra

2012-06-01

This study explored associations among disease-management partnership functioning, synergy and effectiveness in the delivery of chronic-illness care. This study had a cross-sectional design. The study sample consists of 218 professionals (out of 393) participating in 22 disease-management partnerships in various regions of the Netherlands. We assessed the relationships among partnership functioning, synergy and effectiveness in the delivery of chronic-illness care. Partnership functioning was assessed through leadership, resources, administration and efficiency. Synergy was considered the proximal outcome of partnership functioning, which, in turn, influenced the effectiveness of disease-management partnerships [measured with the Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (ACIC) survey instrument]. Overall ACIC scores ranged from 3 to 10, indicating basic/intermediate to optimal/comprehensive delivery of chronic-illness care. The results of the regression analysis demonstrate that partnership effectiveness was positively associated with leadership (β = 0.25; P≤ 0.01), and resources (β = 0.31; P≤ 0.001). No significant relationship was found between administration, efficiency and partnership effectiveness. Partnership synergy acted as a mediator for partnership functioning and was statistically significantly associated with partnership effectiveness (β = 0.25; P≤ 0.001). Disease-management partnerships seemed better able to deliver higher levels of chronic-illness care when synergy is created between partners. Synergy was more likely to emerge with boundary-spanning leaders who understood and appreciated partners' different perspectives, could bridge their diverse cultures and were comfortable sharing ideas, resources and power. In addition, the acknowledgement of and ability to use members' resources are valuable in engaging partners' involvement and achieving synergy in disease-management partnerships.

Design of a H∞ Robust Controller with μ-Analysis for Steam Turbine Power Generation Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vincenzo Iannino

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Concentrated Solar Power plants are complex systems subjected to quite sensitive variations of the steam production profile and external disturbances, thus advanced control techniques that ensure system stability and suitable performance criteria are required. In this work, a multi-objective H∞ robust controller is designed and applied to the power control of a Concentered Solar Power plant composed by two turbines, a gear and a generator. In order to provide robust performance and stability in presence of disturbances, not modeled plant dynamics and plant-parameter variations, the advanced features of the μ-analysis are exploited. A high order controller is obtained from the process of synthesis that makes the implementation of the controller difficult and computational more demanding for a Programmable Logic Controller. Therefore, the controller order is reduced through the Balanced Truncation method and then discretized. The obtained robust control is compared to the current Proportional Integral Derivative-based governing system in order to evaluate its performance, considering unperturbed as well as perturbed scenarios, taking into account variations of steam conditions, sensor measurement delays and power losses. The simulations results show that the proposed controller achieves better robustness and performance compared to the existing Proportional Integral Derivative controller.

Academic partnership in NLS resource design: a European case study.

OpenAIRE

Jo Pye

1997-01-01

This paper describes the library work package of the European Unions Telematics for Teacher Training project, which links the Libraries and Education and Training sectors. Its two major deliverables, a user needs analysis report addressing networked learner support in European partner institutions and development of an online course for librarians, are discussed in terms of professional development opportunities for partnership between academic and information staff.

Efficient reanalysis techniques for robust topology optimization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Amir, Oded; Sigmund, Ole; Lazarov, Boyan Stefanov

2012-01-01

efficient robust topology optimization procedures based on reanalysis techniques. The approach is demonstrated on two compliant mechanism design problems where robust design is achieved by employing either a worst case formulation or a stochastic formulation. It is shown that the time spent on finite...

Income trusts and limited partnerships

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Toews, E.L.

1999-01-01

This author provided a conceptual overview of income trusts and limited partnerships that are designed to pass operating cash flow directly to investors without the imposition of corporate taxes, discussed the evolution of the market, the mechanism used to price income funds, past and present performance of the sector, and made some predictions concerning the sector's future performance. 13 figs

Advances in robust fractional control

CERN Document Server

Padula, Fabrizio

2015-01-01

This monograph presents design methodologies for (robust) fractional control systems. It shows the reader how to take advantage of the superior flexibility of fractional control systems compared with integer-order systems in achieving more challenging control requirements. There is a high degree of current interest in fractional systems and fractional control arising from both academia and industry and readers from both milieux are catered to in the text. Different design approaches having in common a trade-off between robustness and performance of the control system are considered explicitly. The text generalizes methodologies, techniques and theoretical results that have been successfully applied in classical (integer) control to the fractional case. The first part of Advances in Robust Fractional Control is the more industrially-oriented. It focuses on the design of fractional controllers for integer processes. In particular, it considers fractional-order proportional-integral-derivative controllers, becau...

Design of a robust thin-film interference filter for erbium-doped fiber amplifier gain equalization

Science.gov (United States)

Verly, Pierre G.

2002-06-01

Gain-flattening filters (GFFs) are key wavelength division multiplexing components in fiber-optics telecommunications. Challenging issues in the design of thin-film GFFs were recently the subject of a contest organized at the 2001 Conference on Optical Interference Coatings. The interest and main difficulty of the proposed problem was to minimize the sensitivity of a GFF to simulated fabrication errors. A high-yield solution and its design philosophy are described. The approach used to control the filter robustness is explained and illustrated by numerical results.

The Crane Robust Control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marek Hicar

2004-01-01

Full Text Available The article is about a control design for complete structure of the crane: crab, bridge and crane uplift.The most important unknown parameters for simulations are burden weight and length of hanging rope. We will use robustcontrol for crab and bridge control to ensure adaptivity for burden weight and rope length. Robust control will be designed for current control of the crab and bridge, necessary is to know the range of unknown parameters. Whole robust will be splitto subintervals and after correct identification of unknown parameters the most suitable robust controllers will be chosen.The most important condition at the crab and bridge motion is avoiding from burden swinging in the final position. Crab and bridge drive is designed by asynchronous motor fed from frequency converter. We will use crane uplift with burden weightobserver in combination for uplift, crab and bridge drive with cooperation of their parameters: burden weight, rope length and crab and bridge position. Controllers are designed by state control method. We will use preferably a disturbance observerwhich will identify burden weight as a disturbance. The system will be working in both modes at empty hook as well asat maximum load: burden uplifting and dropping down.

A partnership model for a reflective narrative for researcher and participant.

Science.gov (United States)

Murphy, Gill; Peters, Kath; Wilkes, Lesley; Jackson, Debra

2016-09-01

Background Conceptual frameworks are important to ensure a clear underpinning research philosophy. Further, the use of conceptual frameworks can support structured research processes. Aim To present a partnership model for a reflective narrative for researcher and participant. Discussion This paper positions the underpinning philosophical framework of the model in social constructionism (the idea that jointly constructed understandings form the basis for shared assumptions) and narrative enquiry. The model has five stages - study design, invitation to share a research space and partnership, a metaphorical research space, building a community story, and reading the community story to others. Core principles of the partnership model are continual reflection by the researcher, potential reflections by participants, reciprocal sharing, and partnership in research. Conclusion A 'trajectory of self' for both participants and researchers can be enhanced within reflective partnerships. Implications for practice This model can be applied to studies that use narrative enquiry and are seeking a humanistic approach with participant engagement.

ADVANTAGES AND RISKS OF USING THE PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP IN ROMANIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sabau-Popa Liviu Mihai

2012-12-01

Full Text Available This article presents the advantages and risks of the public-private partnership in realizing the public investments in Romania. Public-private partnerships refer to the forms of cooperation between public authorities and private entities and target the regulation of the design, financing, construction, operation, rehabilitation, development, rental and transfer of any public work, asset or public service. It is a formula agreed by the public authorities by which the solving of public problems of general interest is “commissioned” by attracting entrepreneurs from the private sector. One of the main arguments for supporting the public-private partnerships in case of public investment projects is the transfer of the managerial competencies and of the know-how from the private partner to the public one. One of the main risks of the public-private partnerships is related to the temptation of using the private-public partnerships as a means of eluding the budgetary pressure, which may lead to their inadequate use.

Robust Control of an Ill-Conditioned Aircraft

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Breslin, S.G.; Tøffner-Clausen, S.; Grimble, M.J.

1996-01-01

A robust controller is designed for a linear model of an Advanced Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (ASTOVL) aircraft at one operating point.......A robust controller is designed for a linear model of an Advanced Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (ASTOVL) aircraft at one operating point....

Robust and flexible mapping for real-time distributed applications during the early design phases

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gan, Junhe; Pop, Paul; Gruian, Flavius

2012-01-01

has a high chance of being schedulable, considering the wcet uncertainties, whereas a flexible mapping has a high chance to successfully accommodate the future scenarios. We propose a Genetic Algorithm-based approach to solve this optimization problem. Extensive experiments show the importance......We are interested in mapping hard real-time applications on distributed heterogeneous architectures. An application is modeled as a set of tasks, and we consider a fixed-priority preemptive scheduling policy. We target the early design phases, when decisions have a high impact on the subsequent...... in the functionality requirements are captured using “future scenarios”, which are task sets that model functionality likely to be added in the future. In this context, we derive a mapping of tasks in the application, such that the resulted implementation is both robust and flexible. Robust means that the application...

Robustness of Long Span Reciprocal Timber Structures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Balfroid, Nathalie; Kirkegaard, Poul Henning

2011-01-01

engineer may take necessary steps to design robust structures that are insensitive to accidental circumstances. The present paper makes a discussion of such robustness issues related to the future development of reciprocal timber structures. The paper concludes that these kind of structures can have...... a potential as long span timber structures in real projects if they are carefully designed with respect to the overall robustness strategies.......Robustness of structural systems has obtained a renewed interest due to a much more frequent use of advanced types of structures with limited redundancy and serious consequences in case of failure. The interest has also been facilitated due to recently severe structural failures...

Improving Primary Care with Human-Centered Design and Partnership-Based Leadership

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

May-Lynn Andresen

2017-06-01

empowering leadership behaviors and human-centered design, offers great promise for improved patient outcomes, staff empowerment, and promotion of partnership.

46 CFR 67.35 - Partnership.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Partnership. 67.35 Section 67.35 Shipping COAST GUARD... Citizenship Requirements for Vessel Documentation § 67.35 Partnership. A partnership meets citizenship... recreational endorsement, at least 50 percent of the equity interest in the partnership is owned by citizens...

Active disturbance rejection control based robust output feedback autopilot design for airbreathing hypersonic vehicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Jiayi; Zhang, Shifeng; Zhang, Yinhui; Li, Tong

2018-03-01

Since motion control plant (y (n) =f(⋅)+d) was repeatedly used to exemplify how active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) works when it was proposed, the integral chain system subject to matched disturbances is always regarded as a canonical form and even misconstrued as the only form that ADRC is applicable to. In this paper, a systematic approach is first presented to apply ADRC to a generic nonlinear uncertain system with mismatched disturbances and a robust output feedback autopilot for an airbreathing hypersonic vehicle (AHV) is devised based on that. The key idea is to employ the feedback linearization (FL) and equivalent input disturbance (EID) technique to decouple nonlinear uncertain system into several subsystems in canonical form, thus it would be much easy to directly design classical/improved linear/nonlinear ADRC controller for each subsystem. It is noticed that all disturbances are taken into account when implementing FL rather than just omitting that in previous research, which greatly enhances controllers' robustness against external disturbances. For autopilot design, ADRC strategy enables precise tracking for velocity and altitude reference command in the presence of severe parametric perturbations and atmospheric disturbances only using measurable output information. Bounded-input-bounded-output (BIBO) stable is analyzed for closed-loop system. To illustrate the feasibility and superiority of this novel design, a series of comparative simulations with some prominent and representative methods are carried out on a benchmark longitudinal AHV model. Copyright © 2018 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Aspects of Equality in Mandatory Partnerships - From the Perspective of Municipal Care in Norway.

Science.gov (United States)

Kirchhoff, Ralf; Ljunggren, Birgitte

2016-05-18

This paper raises questions about equality in partnerships, since imbalance in partnerships may effect collaboration outcomes in integrated care. We address aspects of equality in mandatory, public-public partnerships, from the perspective of municipal care. We have developed a questionnaire wherein the Norwegian Coordination Reform is an illustrative example. The following research question is addressed: What equality dimensions are important for municipals related to mandatory partnerships with hospitals? Since we did not find any instrument to measure equality in partnerships, an explorative design was chosen. The development of the instrument was based on the theory on partnership and knowledge about the field and context. A national online survey was emitted to all 429 Norwegian municipalities in 2013. The response rate was in total 58 percent (n = 248). The data were mainly analysed using Principal component analysis. It seems that the two dimensions "learning and expertise equality" and "contractual equality" collects reliable and valid data to measure aspects of equality in partnerships. Partnerships are usually based on voluntarism. The results indicate that mandatory partnerships, within a public health care system, can be appropriate to equalize partnerships between health care providers at different care levels.

Responsive Regulation in Public-Private Partnerships: Between Deterrence and Persuasion

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Reynaers, A.-M.; Parrado, S.

Design-Build-Finance-Maintain-Operate (DBFMO) contracts are a particular type of public-private partnership whereby governments transfer the responsibility for the design, construction, financing, maintenance, and operation of a public infrastructure or utility service building to a multi-headed

Successful partnerships with third sector organisations to enhance the healthcare student experience: a partnership evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Bell, Katie; Tanner, Judith; Rutty, Jane; Astley-Pepper, Maxine; Hall, Richard

2015-03-01

There is limited research surrounding academic partnerships and more research is needed to educate universities, and the private, public and third sectors about the benefits and limitations of such partnerships. The aim of this study was to outline the unique partnership between Macmillan Cancer Support and De Montfort University and to evaluate the progress of this partnership. A qualitative approach was employed which involved interviews with nine members of the partnership's steering group. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. The results showed that a partnership between a university and a third sector charity can have mutual benefits for all those involved, particularly for students and those affected by cancer. Furthermore, the module to develop volunteering among families affected cancer, created through this partnership is now being considered by other universities as a way of providing holistic and non-traditional lecture based learning experiences. Recommendations are made for future partnerships between third sector charities and universities. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Robustness of IPTV business models

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bouwman, H.; Zhengjia, M.; Duin, P. van der; Limonard, S.

2008-01-01

The final stage in the STOF method is an evaluation of the robustness of the design, for which the method provides some guidelines. For many innovative services, the future holds numerous uncertainties, which makes evaluating the robustness of a business model a difficult task. In this chapter, we

An Intercompany Perspective on Biopharmaceutical Drug Product Robustness Studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Morar-Mitrica, Sorina; Adams, Monica L; Crotts, George; Wurth, Christine; Ihnat, Peter M; Tabish, Tanvir; Antochshuk, Valentyn; DiLuzio, Willow; Dix, Daniel B; Fernandez, Jason E; Gupta, Kapil; Fleming, Michael S; He, Bing; Kranz, James K; Liu, Dingjiang; Narasimhan, Chakravarthy; Routhier, Eric; Taylor, Katherine D; Truong, Nobel; Stokes, Elaine S E

2018-02-01

The Biophorum Development Group (BPDG) is an industry-wide consortium enabling networking and sharing of best practices for the development of biopharmaceuticals. To gain a better understanding of current industry approaches for establishing biopharmaceutical drug product (DP) robustness, the BPDG-Formulation Point Share group conducted an intercompany collaboration exercise, which included a bench-marking survey and extensive group discussions around the scope, design, and execution of robustness studies. The results of this industry collaboration revealed several key common themes: (1) overall DP robustness is defined by both the formulation and the manufacturing process robustness; (2) robustness integrates the principles of quality by design (QbD); (3) DP robustness is an important factor in setting critical quality attribute control strategies and commercial specifications; (4) most companies employ robustness studies, along with prior knowledge, risk assessments, and statistics, to develop the DP design space; (5) studies are tailored to commercial development needs and the practices of each company. Three case studies further illustrate how a robustness study design for a biopharmaceutical DP balances experimental complexity, statistical power, scientific understanding, and risk assessment to provide the desired product and process knowledge. The BPDG-Formulation Point Share discusses identified industry challenges with regard to biopharmaceutical DP robustness and presents some recommendations for best practices. Copyright © 2018 American Pharmacists Association®. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Model-reference robust tuning of PID controllers

CERN Document Server

Alfaro, Victor M

2016-01-01

This book presents a unified methodology for the design of PID controllers that encompasses the wide range of different dynamics to be found in industrial processes. This is extended to provide a coherent way of dealing with the tuning of PID controllers. The particular method at the core of the book is the so-called model-reference robust tuning (MoReRT), developed by the authors. MoReRT constitutes a novel and powerful way of thinking of a robust design and taking into account the usual design trade-offs encountered in any control design problem. The book starts by presenting the different two-degree-of-freedom PID control algorithm variations and their conversion relations as well as the indexes used for performance, robustness and fragility evaluation:the bases of the proposed model. Secondly, the MoReRT design methodology and normalized controlled process models and controllers used in the design are described in order to facilitate the formulation of the different design problems and subsequent derivati...

A diagnostic evaluation model for complex research partnerships with community engagement: The partnership for Native American Cancer Prevention (NACP) model

OpenAIRE

Trotter, Robert T.; Laurila, Kelly; Alberts, David; Huenneke, Laura F.

2014-01-01

Complex community oriented health care prevention and intervention partnerships fail or only partially succeed at alarming rates. In light of the current rapid expansion of critically needed programs targeted at health disparities in minority populations, we have designed and are testing an “logic model plus” evaluation model that combines classic logic model and query based evaluation designs (CDC, NIH, Kellogg Foundation) with advances in community engaged designs derived from industry-univ...

Robust D-Stability Controller Design for a Ducted Fan Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiao-lu Ren

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with the aerodynamic modeling of a small ducted fan UAV and the problem of attitude stabilization when the parameter of the vehicle is varied. The main aerodynamic model of the hovering flight UAV is first presented. Then, an attitude control is designed from a linearization of the dynamic model around the hovering flight, which is based on the H∞ output feedback control theory with D-stability. Simulation results show that such method has good robustness to the attitude system. They can meet the requirements of attitude control and verify further the feasibility of such a control strategy.

Robust control design for active driver assistance systems a linear-parameter-varying approach

CERN Document Server

Gáspár, Péter; Bokor, József; Nemeth, Balazs

2017-01-01

This monograph focuses on control methods that influence vehicle dynamics to assist the driver in enhancing passenger comfort, road holding, efficiency and safety of transport, etc., while maintaining the driver’s ability to override that assistance. On individual-vehicle-component level the control problem is formulated and solved by a unified modelling and design method provided by the linear parameter varying (LPV) framework. The global behaviour desired is achieved by a judicious interplay between the individual components, guaranteed by an integrated control mechanism. The integrated control problem is also formalized and solved in the LPV framework. Most important among the ideas expounded in the book are: application of the LPV paradigm in the modelling and control design methodology; application of the robust LPV design as a unified framework for setting control tasks related to active driver assistance; formulation and solution proposals for the integrated vehicle control problem; proposal for a re...

Hands on Education Through Student-Industry Partnerships

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, J.; Wolfson, M.; Morris, K.

2013-09-01

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company has invested in the future generation of engineers by partially funding and mentoring CubeSat projects around the country. One CubeSat in particular, ALL-STAR, has shown how this industry/university partnership benefits both the students and their mentors. Students gain valuable insight into aspects of spacecraft design that aren't taught in classes. They also start learning about industry processes for designing, building, and testing satellites before ever working in that environment. Because of this experience, industry is getting more qualified engineers starting fresh out of college. In addition Lockheed Martin's partnership with the university will allow them to use the students to help build affordable CubeSats for internal and customer's research and development projects. The mentoring also challenges the engineers to think differently about similar problems they face every day with their larger programs in order to make the solution simple and affordable.

Robustness Analysis of Typologies of Reciprocal Timber Structures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kirkegaard, Poul Henning; Parigi, Dario

2013-01-01

to the future development of typologies of reciprocal timber structures. The paper concludes that these kinds of structures can have a potential as long span timber structures in real projects if they are carefully designed with respect to the overall robustness strategies.......Robustness of structural systems has obtained a renewed interest due to a much more frequent use of advanced types of structures with limited redundancy and serious consequences in case of failure. In order to minimise the likelihood of such disproportionate structural failures many modern building...... codes consider the need for robustness in structures and provides strategies and methods to obtain robustness. Therefore a structural engineer may take necessary steps to design robust structures that are insensitive to accidental circumstances. The present paper outlines robustness issues related...

Robustness Analyses of Timber Structures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kirkegaard, Poul Henning; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard; Hald, Frederik

2013-01-01

The robustness of structural systems has obtained a renewed interest arising from a much more frequent use of advanced types of structures with limited redundancy and serious consequences in case of failure. In order to minimise the likelihood of such disproportionate structural failures, many mo...... with respect to robustness of timber structures and will discuss the consequences of such robustness issues related to the future development of timber structures.......The robustness of structural systems has obtained a renewed interest arising from a much more frequent use of advanced types of structures with limited redundancy and serious consequences in case of failure. In order to minimise the likelihood of such disproportionate structural failures, many...... modern building codes consider the need for the robustness of structures and provide strategies and methods to obtain robustness. Therefore, a structural engineer may take necessary steps to design robust structures that are insensitive to accidental circumstances. The present paper summaries issues...

WGC Based Robust and Gain Scheduling PI Controller Design for Condensing Boilers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cem Onat

2014-05-01

Full Text Available This paper addresses the water temperature PI control in condensing domestic boilers. The main challenge of this process under the controller design perspective is the fact that the dynamics of condensing boilers are strongly affected by the demanded water flow rate. First, a robust PI controller based on weighted geometrical center method is designed that stabilizes and achieves good performance for closed-loop system for a wide range of the water flow rate. Then, it is shown that if the water flow rate information is used to update the controller gains, through a technique known as gain scheduled control, the performance can be significantly improved. Important characteristics of these PI design approaches are that the resulting parameters are calculated numerically without using any graphical method or iterative optimization process and that it guarantees the stability of the closed-loop. Significantly, simulation results have demonstrated that the proposed tuning techniques can perform better for set point changes and load disturbance than other available methods in the literature.

Design of Robust AMB Controllers for Rotors Subjected to Varying and Uncertain Seal Forces

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lauridsen, Jonas Skjødt; Santos, Ilmar

2017-01-01

This paper demonstrates the design and simulation results of model based controllers for AMB systems, subjectedto uncertain and changing dynamic seal forces. Specifically, a turbocharger with a hole-pattern seal mounted acrossthe balance piston is considered. The dynamic forces of the seal, which...... are dependent on the operational conditions,have a significant effect on the overall system dynamics. Furthermore, these forces are considered uncertain.The nominal and the uncertainty representation of the seal model are established using results from conventionalmodelling approaches, i.e. CFD and Bulkflow......, and experimental results. Three controllers are synthesized: I) AnH∞ controller based on nominal plant representation, II) A µ controller, designed to be robust against uncertaintiesin the dynamic seal model and III) a Linear Parameter Varying (LPV) controller, designed to provide a unifiedperformance over a large...

Green Power Partnership Fortune 500® Partners List

Science.gov (United States)

U.S. EPA's Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program designed to reduce the environmental impact of electricity generation by promoting renewable energy. This Top Partner list presents Green Power Partners that also appear on the Fortune 500® list.

Partnerships for Global Child Health.

Science.gov (United States)

Steenhoff, Andrew P; Crouse, Heather L; Lukolyo, Heather; Larson, Charles P; Howard, Cynthia; Mazhani, Loeto; Pak-Gorstein, Suzinne; Niescierenko, Michelle L; Musoke, Philippa; Marshall, Roseda; Soto, Miguel A; Butteris, Sabrina M; Batra, Maneesh

2017-10-01

Child mortality remains a global health challenge and has resulted in demand for expanding the global child health (GCH) workforce over the last 3 decades. Institutional partnerships are the cornerstone of sustainable education, research, clinical service, and advocacy for GCH. When successful, partnerships can become self-sustaining and support development of much-needed training programs in resource-constrained settings. Conversely, poorly conceptualized, constructed, or maintained partnerships may inadvertently contribute to the deterioration of health systems. In this comprehensive, literature-based, expert consensus review we present a definition of partnerships for GCH, review their genesis, evolution, and scope, describe participating organizations, and highlight benefits and challenges associated with GCH partnerships. Additionally, we suggest a framework for applying sound ethical and public health principles for GCH that includes 7 guiding principles and 4 core practices along with a structure for evaluating GCH partnerships. Finally, we highlight current knowledge gaps to stimulate further work in these areas. With awareness of the potential benefits and challenges of GCH partnerships, as well as shared dedication to guiding principles and core practices, GCH partnerships hold vast potential to positively impact child health. Copyright © 2017 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Possibility-based robust design optimization for the structural-acoustic system with fuzzy parameters

Science.gov (United States)

Yin, Hui; Yu, Dejie; Yin, Shengwen; Xia, Baizhan

2018-03-01

The conventional engineering optimization problems considering uncertainties are based on the probabilistic model. However, the probabilistic model may be unavailable because of the lack of sufficient objective information to construct the precise probability distribution of uncertainties. This paper proposes a possibility-based robust design optimization (PBRDO) framework for the uncertain structural-acoustic system based on the fuzzy set model, which can be constructed by expert opinions. The objective of robust design is to optimize the expectation and variability of system performance with respect to uncertainties simultaneously. In the proposed PBRDO, the entropy of the fuzzy system response is used as the variability index; the weighted sum of the entropy and expectation of the fuzzy response is used as the objective function, and the constraints are established in the possibility context. The computations for the constraints and objective function of PBRDO are a triple-loop and a double-loop nested problem, respectively, whose computational costs are considerable. To improve the computational efficiency, the target performance approach is introduced to transform the calculation of the constraints into a double-loop nested problem. To further improve the computational efficiency, a Chebyshev fuzzy method (CFM) based on the Chebyshev polynomials is proposed to estimate the objective function, and the Chebyshev interval method (CIM) is introduced to estimate the constraints, thereby the optimization problem is transformed into a single-loop one. Numerical results on a shell structural-acoustic system verify the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed methods.

Forging School-Scientist Partnerships: A Case of Easier Said than Done?

Science.gov (United States)

Falloon, Garry

2013-12-01

Since the early 1980s, a number of initiatives have been undertaken worldwide which have involved scientists and teachers working together in projects designed to support the science learning of students. Many of these have attempted to establish school-scientist partnerships. In these, scientists, teachers, and students formed teams engaged in mutually beneficial science-based activities founded on principles such as equal recognition and input, and shared vision, responsibility and risk. This article uses two partnership programmes run by a New Zealand Science Research Institute, to illustrate the challenges faced by scientists and teachers as they attempted to forge meaningful and effective partnerships. It argues that achieving the theorised position of a shared partnership space at the intersection of the worlds of scientists and teachers is problematic, and that scientists must instead be prepared to penetrate deeply into the world of the classroom when undertaking any such interactions. Findings indicate epistemological differences, curriculum and school systems and issues, and teacher efficacy and science knowledge significantly affect the process of partnership formation. Furthermore, it is argued that a re-thinking of partnerships is needed to reflect present economic and education environments, which are very different to those in which they were originally conceived nearly 30 years ago. It suggests that technology has an important role to play in future partnership interactions.

Improving refueling outages through partnership

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mercado, Angelo L.

2004-01-01

This paper describes an approach to reduce nuclear plant outage duration and cost through partnership. Partnership is defined as a long-term commitment between the utility and the vendor with the objective of achieving shared business goals by maximizing the effectiveness of each party's resources. The elements of an effective partnership are described. Specific examples are given as to how partnership has worked in the effective performance of refueling outages. To gain the full benefits of a partnership, both parties must agree to share information, define the scope early, communicate goals and expectations, and identify boundaries for technical ownership. (author)

Nonlinear robust hierarchical control for nonlinear uncertain systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leonessa Alexander

1999-01-01

Full Text Available A nonlinear robust control-system design framework predicated on a hierarchical switching controller architecture parameterized over a set of moving nominal system equilibria is developed. Specifically, using equilibria-dependent Lyapunov functions, a hierarchical nonlinear robust control strategy is developed that robustly stabilizes a given nonlinear system over a prescribed range of system uncertainty by robustly stabilizing a collection of nonlinear controlled uncertain subsystems. The robust switching nonlinear controller architecture is designed based on a generalized (lower semicontinuous Lyapunov function obtained by minimizing a potential function over a given switching set induced by the parameterized nominal system equilibria. The proposed framework robustly stabilizes a compact positively invariant set of a given nonlinear uncertain dynamical system with structured parametric uncertainty. Finally, the efficacy of the proposed approach is demonstrated on a jet engine propulsion control problem with uncertain pressure-flow map data.

Design and Implement a Digital H{sub {infinity}}Robust Controller for a MW-Class PMSG-Based Grid-Interactive Wind Energy Conversion System

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Howlander, Abdul Motin [Faculty of Engineering, Univ. of the Ryukyus, Okinawa (Japan); Urasaki, Naomitsu [Faculty of Engineering, Univ. of the Ryukyus, Okinawa (Japan); Yona, Atsushi [Faculty of Engineering, Univ. of the Ryukyus, Okinawa (Japan); Senjyu, Tomonobu [Faculty of Engineering, Univ. of the Ryukyus, Okinawa (Japan); Saber, Ahmed Yousuf [Operation Technology, Irvine, CA (United States)

2013-04-15

A digital H{sub {infinity}}controller for a permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) based wind energy conversion system (WECS) is presented. Wind energy is an uncertain fluctuating resource which requires a tight control management. So, it is still an exigent task for the control design engineers. The conventional proportional-integral (PI) control is not ideal during high turbulence wind velocities, and the nonlinear behavior of the power converters. These are raising interest towards the robust control concepts. The robust design is to find a controller, for a given system, such that the closed-loop system becomes robust that assurance high-integrity and fault tolerant control system, robust H{sub {infinity}}control theory has befallen a standard design method of choice over the past two decades in industrial control applications. The robust H{sub {infinity}}control theory is also gaining eminence in the WECS. Due to the implementation complexity for the continuous H{sub {infinity}}controller, and availability of the high speedy micro-controllers, the design of a sample-data or a digital H{sub {infinity}}controller is very important for the realistic implementation. But there isn’t a single research to evaluate the performance of the digital H{sub {infinity}}controller for the WECS. In this paper, the proposed digital H{sub {infinity}}controller schemes comprise for the both generator and grid interactive power converters, and the control performances are compared with the conventional PI controller and the fuzzy controller. Simulation results confirm the efficacy of the proposed method Energies 2013, 6 2085 which are ensured the WECS stabilities, mitigate shaft stress, and improving the DC-link voltage and output power qualities.

BIG SKY CARBON SEQUESTRATION PARTNERSHIP

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Susan M. Capalbo

2004-06-01

The Big Sky Partnership, led by Montana State University, is comprised of research institutions, public entities and private sectors organizations, and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the Nez Perce Tribe. Efforts during the second performance period fall into four areas: evaluation of sources and carbon sequestration sinks; development of GIS-based reporting framework; designing an integrated suite of monitoring, measuring, and verification technologies; and initiating a comprehensive education and outreach program. At the first two Partnership meetings the groundwork was put in place to provide an assessment of capture and storage capabilities for CO{sub 2} utilizing the resources found in the Partnership region (both geological and terrestrial sinks), that would complement the ongoing DOE research. The region has a diverse array of geological formations that could provide storage options for carbon in one or more of its three states. Likewise, initial estimates of terrestrial sinks indicate a vast potential for increasing and maintaining soil C on forested, agricultural, and reclaimed lands. Both options include the potential for offsetting economic benefits to industry and society. Steps have been taken to assure that the GIS-based framework is consistent among types of sinks within the Big Sky Partnership area and with the efforts of other western DOE partnerships. Efforts are also being made to find funding to include Wyoming in the coverage areas for both geological and terrestrial sinks and sources. The Partnership recognizes the critical importance of measurement, monitoring, and verification technologies to support not only carbon trading but all policies and programs that DOE and other agencies may want to pursue in support of GHG mitigation. The efforts begun in developing and implementing MMV technologies for geological sequestration reflect this concern. Research is also underway to identify and validate best management practices for

Application of polynomial control to design a robust oscillation-damping controller in a multimachine power system.

Science.gov (United States)

Hasanvand, Hamed; Mozafari, Babak; Arvan, Mohammad R; Amraee, Turaj

2015-11-01

This paper addresses the application of a static Var compensator (SVC) to improve the damping of interarea oscillations. Optimal location and size of SVC are defined using bifurcation and modal analysis to satisfy its primary application. Furthermore, the best-input signal for damping controller is selected using Hankel singular values and right half plane-zeros. The proposed approach is aimed to design a robust PI controller based on interval plants and Kharitonov's theorem. The objective here is to determine the stability region to attain robust stability, the desired phase margin, gain margin, and bandwidth. The intersection of the resulting stability regions yields the set of kp-ki parameters. In addition, optimal multiobjective design of PI controller using particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is presented. The effectiveness of the suggested controllers in damping of local and interarea oscillation modes of a multimachine power system, over a wide range of loading conditions and system configurations, is confirmed through eigenvalue analysis and nonlinear time domain simulation. Copyright © 2015 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Inner Work of Partnership: Tools for Making the Personal Shift from Domination to Partnership

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Susan Carter

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This article highlights the importance of partnership with oneself in partnership work. Recognizing that partnership is both a process and a practice, the authors bring attention to the role of one’s relationship with self in the partnership model. Ways in which domination thinking becomes internalized and how it functions in our own inner lives is demonstrated. Through a close examination of seven key ways to cultivate a relationship of respect, peace, care, and compassion with self, the authors offer a simple tool to support the practice of partnership values from the inside out.

Optimal robust stabilizer design based on UPFC for interconnected power systems considering time delay

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Koofigar Hamid Reza

2017-09-01

Full Text Available A robust auxiliary wide area damping controller is proposed for a unified power flow controller (UPFC. The mixed H2 / H∞ problem with regional pole placement, resolved by linear matrix inequality (LMI, is applied for controller design. Based on modal analysis, the optimal wide area input signals for the controller are selected. The time delay of input signals, due to electrical distance from the UPFC location is taken into account in the design procedure. The proposed controller is applied to a multi-machine interconnected power system from the IRAN power grid. It is shown that the both transient and dynamic stability are significantly improved despite different disturbances and loading conditions.

Pathways, Pitfalls and Opportunities in Partnerships for Development

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, David; Vanhill, Josefine; Wolf, Andreas

The municipal solid waste management systems of many developing countries are commonly constrained by factors such as limited financial resources and poor governance, making it a difficult proposition to break with complex, entrenched and unsustainable technologies and systems. This paper...... some lessons in such partnership building: In Uganda and Denmark respectively, the World Wildlife Fund and the network-administrating organization access2innovation have attempted to mobilize stakeholders around improving the municipal solid waste system in the rural district capital of Kasese. Through...... a municipal solid waste system characterization and mapping exercise, some emergent lessons and guiding principles in partnership building point to both pitfalls and opportunities for designing sustainable pathways....

ADVANTAGES AND RISKS OF USING THE PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP IN ROMANIA

OpenAIRE

Sabau-Popa Liviu Mihai

2012-01-01

This article presents the advantages and risks of the public-private partnership in realizing the public investments in Romania. Public-private partnerships refer to the forms of cooperation between public authorities and private entities and target the regulation of the design, financing, construction, operation, rehabilitation, development, rental and transfer of any public work, asset or public service. It is a formula agreed by the public authorities by which the solving of public problem...

Civil partnerships five years on.

Science.gov (United States)

Ross, Helen; Gask, Karen; Berrington, Ann

2011-01-01

The Civil Partnership Act 2004, which came into force in December 2005 allowing same-sex couples in the UK to register their relationship for the first time, celebrated its fifth anniversary in December 2010. This article examines civil partnership in England and Wales, five years on from its introduction. The characteristics of those forming civil partnerships between 2005 and 2010 including age, sex and previous marital/civil partnership status are examined. These are then compared with the characteristics of those marrying over the same period. Further comparisons are also made between civil partnership dissolutions and divorce. The article presents estimates of the number of people currently in civil partnerships and children of civil partners. Finally the article examines attitudes towards same-sex and civil partner couples both in the UK and in other countries across Europe.

A robust approach to optimal matched filter design in ultrasonic non-destructive evaluation (NDE)

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Minghui; Hayward, Gordon

2017-02-01

The matched filter was demonstrated to be a powerful yet efficient technique to enhance defect detection and imaging in ultrasonic non-destructive evaluation (NDE) of coarse grain materials, provided that the filter was properly designed and optimized. In the literature, in order to accurately approximate the defect echoes, the design utilized the real excitation signals, which made it time consuming and less straightforward to implement in practice. In this paper, we present a more robust and flexible approach to optimal matched filter design using the simulated excitation signals, and the control parameters are chosen and optimized based on the real scenario of array transducer, transmitter-receiver system response, and the test sample, as a result, the filter response is optimized and depends on the material characteristics. Experiments on industrial samples are conducted and the results confirm the great benefits of the method.

Revising a conceptual model of partnership and sustainability in global health.

Science.gov (United States)

Upvall, Michele J; Leffers, Jeanne M

2018-05-01

Models to guide global health partnerships are rare in the nursing literature. The Conceptual Model for Partnership and Sustainability in Global Health while significant was based on Western perspectives. The purpose of this study was to revise the model to include the voice of nurses from low- and middle-resource countries. Grounded theory was used to maintain fidelity with the design in the original model. A purposive sample of 15 participants from a variety of countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and Southeast Asia and having extensive experience in global health partnerships were interviewed. Skype recordings and in-person interviews were audiotaped using the same questions as the original study. Theoretical coding and a comparison of results with the original study was completed independently by the researchers. The process of global health partnerships was expanded from the original model to include engagement processes and processes for ongoing partnership development. New concepts of Transparency, Expanded World View, and Accompaniment were included as well as three broad themes: Geopolitical Influence, Power differential/Inequities, and Collegial Friendships. The revised conceptual model embodies a more comprehensive model of global health partnerships with representation of nurses from low- and middle-resource countries. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Service Quality Robust Design by the Integration of Taguchi Experiments and SERVQUAL Approach in a Travel Agency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

nassibeh janatyan

2012-02-01

Full Text Available The main purpose of this research is to address how robust design of service quality dimensions can be obtained. Service Quality Robust Design has been conducted by the integration of Taguchi Design of Experiments and SERVQUAL approach in Iran Travel Agency. Five basic dimensions of service quality, i.e. reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, tangibles and price have been assumed as control factors. Response factor has been defined as two alternatives i the sum of customer expectations, and ii the sum of service quality gaps. In this investigation assumed that noise factor is not existed. The advantage of this paper is to improve the average and standard deviation simultaneously. Signal to noise ratio has been computed and the desired mix of the levels of service quality dimensions has been addressed. The main findings of this research includes the desired mix of the levels of service quality dimensions based on the sum of customer expectations and the desired mix of the levels of service quality dimensions based on the sum of service quality gaps. Comparing the two sets of findings helps the agency to analyze the cost of attracting new customers or retaining regular customers.

THE USE OF PARTNERSHIP IN PURCHASING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ELENA SIMA

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The partnership is now increasingly used in all areas thanks to the synergy it implies and of the benefits demonstrated. And in today's economy benefits of the partnership are widely recognized. Partnership in purchase makes no exception. This paper presents the benefits of a partnership-based purchases compared to those of traditional purchasing. Less well known is that a partnership built and/or implemented incorrectly and may result in additional costs and thus lead to disadvantages for both companies. For this reason, the paper aims to present what a partnership is, to show which steps should be taken to build a successful partnership and to exemplify through companies which have implemented correctly this type of collaboration, obtaining exceptional results.

Features partnership in auditing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V.P. Bondar

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The notion of «institution partnerships in the audit» and its importance in Ukraine. Done overview of international experience in the Institute of partnerships in the audit business. Determined the nature of the audit, rights, duties and powers of the partnership during the audit. Done distribution of functions between the partner and the engagement partner in the synthesis of these blocks: taking on a new customer service or continued cooperation with existing customers (clients; familiarization with activities of customer audits, including an understanding of its internal control system; identification and assessment of risks of material misstatement of accounting; audit process and the audit and the formation of the final judgment. On the basis of the distribution of functions between the partner and the engagement partner, defined the overall structure of management system auditing firm. These conditions for implementation of partnerships in the audit business, and identified a number of advantages and disadvantages of partnerships for auditing.

Developing Partnerships with the Community for Coastal ESD

Science.gov (United States)

Kawabe, Midori; Kohno, Hiroshi; Ikeda, Reiko; Ishimaru, Takashi; Baba, Osamu; Horimoto, Naho; Kanda, Jota; Matsuyam, Masaji; Moteki, Masato; Oshima, Yayoi; Sasaki, Tsuyoshi; Yap, Minlee

2013-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to draw lessons for developing community-university partnerships from experiences in promoting coastal education for sustainable development (ESD). Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative data collected from two coastal community outreach projects were analyzed. Findings: The outreach projects improved the…

Value of partnership for workplace health promotion : guideline for partnership building

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hämäläinen, R.M.; Dijkman, A.; Guobjörg Asgeirsdóttir, A.; Broek, K. van den; Haratau, T.; Kuhn, K.; Masanotti, G.; Pyzalski, J.; Scheppingen, A. van; Solé, M.D.; Ylikoski, M.

2007-01-01

This publication is an outcome of the project Workplace Health Promotion (WHP): National Health Policies and Strategies in an Enlarging Europe, carried out during 2005-2007. The guideline aims to offer ideas and ways to build partnerships by providing background for partnership building, a brief

Regulatory competition in partnership law.

OpenAIRE

Siems, Mathias

2009-01-01

Regulatory competition in company law has been extensively debated in the last few decades, but it has rarely been discussed whether there could also be regulatory competition in partnership law. This article fills this gap. It addresses the partnership law of the US, the UK, Germany, and France, and presents empirical data on the different types of partnerships and companies established in these jurisdictions. The main focus is on the use of a limited liability partnership (LLP) outside its ...

An Academic-Practice Partnership Model to Grow and Sustain Advanced Practice Nursing.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Tracy E; Howard, Patricia B

2017-12-01

The aims of this article were to describe the implementation of an academic-practice partnership for healthcare system workforce development and provide preliminary outcomes of the associated pilot study. The demand for cross-continuum healthcare delivery models necessitates creation of workforce development structures for advanced practice nursing. An academic-practice partnership specified enrollment of 5 cohorts of BSN staff nurses in a 3-year DNP program. Qualitative methods were used to explore pilot data at midpoint of cohort 1 student progression to determine learning outcomes and DNP projects with potential for impact on organization goals. Partnership implementation experiences indicate that contractual agreements and an established evaluation plan are keys to academic-practice partnership success. Pilot study findings suggest that curriculum core courses provide a foundation for designing DNP projects congruent with acute and primary care health system goals. Implementing an academic-practice partnership is a strategy for workforce development to increase retention of advanced practice nurses. Academic-practice partnerships can serve as a catalyst for a paradigm shift for changing models of care, thus enhancing workforce development succession planning for sustainable growth in healthcare systems.

Working better together: new approaches for understanding the value and challenges of organizational partnerships.

Science.gov (United States)

Riggs, Elisha; Block, Karen; Warr, Deborah; Gibbs, Lisa

2014-12-01

Inter-agency partnerships are critical for addressing the interrelated circumstances associated with the social and health determinants of health inequalities. However, there are many challenges in evaluating partnership processes and outcomes. We discuss a mixed methods study that explored partnership processes in an innovative program that aims to promote social and economic inclusion for young newly arrived refugees. A theoretically informed evaluation was designed and data collected in three ways: an organizational ethnographic approach; a partnership self-assessment tool and semi-structured interviews. Partnership assessments and interviews were collected at two points in time providing progressive process data. Analyses explore divergent levels of staff satisfaction with the partnership's operations, particularly between staff working in program development (strategic management) and program delivery (service provision) roles. Follow-up data collection indicated satisfaction with partnership processes had improved. The partnership did achieve its aim of increasing the level of cooperation between service providers to support young people from refugee backgrounds. This paper presents insights into how to evaluate inter-agency partnerships and reports both methodological and empirical findings. It provides an approach for a better understanding of the levels at which individuals operate within such partnerships, indicates areas where support and attention is needed. © The Author (2013). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Virtual sensors for active noise control in acoustic-structural coupled enclosures using structural sensing: robust virtual sensor design.

Science.gov (United States)

Halim, Dunant; Cheng, Li; Su, Zhongqing

2011-03-01

The work was aimed to develop a robust virtual sensing design methodology for sensing and active control applications of vibro-acoustic systems. The proposed virtual sensor was designed to estimate a broadband acoustic interior sound pressure using structural sensors, with robustness against certain dynamic uncertainties occurring in an acoustic-structural coupled enclosure. A convex combination of Kalman sub-filters was used during the design, accommodating different sets of perturbed dynamic model of the vibro-acoustic enclosure. A minimax optimization problem was set up to determine an optimal convex combination of Kalman sub-filters, ensuring an optimal worst-case virtual sensing performance. The virtual sensing and active noise control performance was numerically investigated on a rectangular panel-cavity system. It was demonstrated that the proposed virtual sensor could accurately estimate the interior sound pressure, particularly the one dominated by cavity-controlled modes, by using a structural sensor. With such a virtual sensing technique, effective active noise control performance was also obtained even for the worst-case dynamics. © 2011 Acoustical Society of America

Advocacy, communication, and partnerships: Mobilizing for effective, widespread cervical cancer prevention.

Science.gov (United States)

Wittet, Scott; Aylward, Jenny; Cowal, Sally; Drope, Jacqui; Franca, Etienne; Goltz, Sarah; Kuo, Taona; Larson, Heidi; Luciani, Silvana; Mugisha, Emmanuel; Schocken, Celina; Torode, Julie

2017-07-01

Both human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and screening/treatment are relatively simple and inexpensive to implement at all resource levels, and cervical cancer screening has been acknowledged as a "best buy" by the WHO. However, coverage with these interventions is low where they are needed most. Failure to launch or expand cervical cancer prevention programs is by and large due to the absence of dedicated funding, along with a lack of recognition of the urgent need to update policies that can hinder access to services. Clear and sustained communication, robust advocacy, and strategic partnerships are needed to inspire national governments and international bodies to action, including identifying and allocating sustainable program resources. There is significant momentum for expanding coverage of HPV vaccination and screening/preventive treatment in low-resource settings as evidenced by new global partnerships espousing this goal, and the participation of groups that previously had not focused on this critical health issue. © 2017 The Authors. International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics.

Robust digital controllers for uncertain chaotic systems: A digital redesign approach

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ababneh, Mohammad [Department of Controls, FMC Kongsberg Subsea, FMC Energy Systems, Houston, TX 77067 (United States); Barajas-Ramirez, Juan-Gonzalo [CICESE, Depto. De Electronica y Telecomunicaciones, Ensenada, BC, 22860 (Mexico); Chen Guanrong [Centre for Chaos Control and Synchronization, Department of Electronic Engineering, City University of Hong Kong (China); Shieh, Leang S. [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-4005 (United States)

2007-03-15

In this paper, a new and systematic method for designing robust digital controllers for uncertain nonlinear systems with structured uncertainties is presented. In the proposed method, a controller is designed in terms of the optimal linear model representation of the nominal system around each operating point of the trajectory, while the uncertainties are decomposed such that the uncertain nonlinear system can be rewritten as a set of local linear models with disturbed inputs. Applying conventional robust control techniques, continuous-time robust controllers are first designed to eliminate the effects of the uncertainties on the underlying system. Then, a robust digital controller is obtained as the result of a digital redesign of the designed continuous-time robust controller using the state-matching technique. The effectiveness of the proposed controller design method is illustrated through some numerical examples on complex nonlinear systems--chaotic systems.

Mexico and the 21st Century Power Partnership (Fact Sheet)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

2015-02-01

The 21st Century Power Partnership's program in Mexico (21CPP Mexico) is one initiative of the Clean Energy Ministerial, carried out in cooperation with government and local stakeholders, drawing upon an international community of power system expertise. The overall goal of this program is to support Mexico's power system transformation by accelerating the transition to a reliable, financially robust, and low-carbon system. 21CPP Mexico activities focus on achieving positive outcomes for all participants, especially addressing critical questions and challenges facing policymakers, regulators, and system operators. In support of this goal, 21CPP Mexico taps into deep networks of expertise and professional connections.

Design of an Electric Propulsion System for SCEPTOR

Science.gov (United States)

Dubois, Arthur; van der Geest, Martin; Bevirt, JoeBen; Clarke, Sean; Christie, Robert J.; Borer, Nicholas K.

2016-01-01

The rise of electric propulsion systems has pushed aircraft designers towards new and potentially transformative concepts. As part of this effort, NASA is leading the SCEPTOR program which aims at designing a fully electric distributed propulsion general aviation aircraft. This article highlights critical aspects of the design of SCEPTOR's propulsion system conceived at Joby Aviation in partnership with NASA, including motor electromagnetic design and optimization as well as cooling system integration. The motor is designed with a finite element based multi-objective optimization approach. This provides insight into important design tradeoffs such as mass versus efficiency, and enables a detailed quantitative comparison between different motor topologies. Secondly, a complete design and Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis of the air breathing cooling system is presented. The cooling system is fully integrated into the nacelle, contains little to no moving parts and only incurs a small drag penalty. Several concepts are considered and compared over a range of operating conditions. The study presents trade-offs between various parameters such as cooling efficiency, drag, mechanical simplicity and robustness.

Two Reconfigurable Flight-Control Design Methods: Robust Servomechanism and Control Allocation

Science.gov (United States)

Burken, John J.; Lu, Ping; Wu, Zheng-Lu; Bahm, Cathy

2001-01-01

Two methods for control system reconfiguration have been investigated. The first method is a robust servomechanism control approach (optimal tracking problem) that is a generalization of the classical proportional-plus-integral control to multiple input-multiple output systems. The second method is a control-allocation approach based on a quadratic programming formulation. A globally convergent fixed-point iteration algorithm has been developed to make onboard implementation of this method feasible. These methods have been applied to reconfigurable entry flight control design for the X-33 vehicle. Examples presented demonstrate simultaneous tracking of angle-of-attack and roll angle commands during failures of the fight body flap actuator. Although simulations demonstrate success of the first method in most cases, the control-allocation method appears to provide uniformly better performance in all cases.

Growing partners: building a community-academic partnership to address health disparities in rural North Carolina.

Science.gov (United States)

De Marco, Molly; Kearney, William; Smith, Tosha; Jones, Carson; Kearney-Powell, Arconstar; Ammerman, Alice

2014-01-01

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) holds tremendous promise for addressing public health disparities. As such, there is a need for academic institutions to build lasting partnerships with community organizations. Herein we have described the process of establishing a relationship between a research university and a Black church in rural North Carolina. We then discuss Harvest of Hope, the church-based pilot garden project that emerged from that partnership. The partnership began with a third-party effort to connect research universities with Black churches to address health disparities. Building this academic-community partnership included collaborating to determine research questions and programming priorities. Other aspects of the partnership included applying for funding together and building consensus on study budget and aims. The academic partners were responsible for administrative details and the community partners led programming and were largely responsible for participant recruitment. The community and academic partners collaborated to design and implement Harvest of Hope, a church-based pilot garden project involving 44 youth and adults. Community and academic partners shared responsibility for study design, recruitment, programming, and reporting of results. The successful operation of the Harvest of Hope project gave rise to a larger National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded study, Faith, Farming and the Future (F3) involving 4 churches and 60 youth. Both projects were CBPR efforts to improve healthy food access and reducing chronic disease. This partnership continues to expand as we develop additional CBPR projects targeting physical activity, healthy eating, and environmental justice, among others. Benefits of the partnership include increased community ownership and cultural appropriateness of interventions. Challenges include managing expectations of diverse parties and adequate communication. Lessons learned and strategies for building

THE USE OF PARTNERSHIP IN PURCHASING

OpenAIRE

ELENA SIMA; GEORGE BĂLAN

2014-01-01

The partnership is now increasingly used in all areas thanks to the synergy it implies and of the benefits demonstrated. And in today's economy benefits of the partnership are widely recognized. Partnership in purchase makes no exception. This paper presents the benefits of a partnership-based purchases compared to those of traditional purchasing. Less well known is that a partnership built and/or implemented incorrectly and may result in additional costs and thus lead to disadvantages for...

Attractive ellipsoids in robust control

CERN Document Server

Poznyak, Alexander; Azhmyakov, Vadim

2014-01-01

This monograph introduces a newly developed robust-control design technique for a wide class of continuous-time dynamical systems called the “attractive ellipsoid method.” Along with a coherent introduction to the proposed control design and related topics, the monograph studies nonlinear affine control systems in the presence of uncertainty and presents a constructive and easily implementable control strategy that guarantees certain stability properties. The authors discuss linear-style feedback control synthesis in the context of the above-mentioned systems. The development and physical implementation of high-performance robust-feedback controllers that work in the absence of complete information is addressed, with numerous examples to illustrate how to apply the attractive ellipsoid method to mechanical and electromechanical systems. While theorems are proved systematically, the emphasis is on understanding and applying the theory to real-world situations. Attractive Ellipsoids in Robust Control will a...

Robust filtering for uncertain systems a parameter-dependent approach

CERN Document Server

Gao, Huijun

2014-01-01

This monograph provides the reader with a systematic treatment of robust filter design, a key issue in systems, control and signal processing, because of the fact that the inevitable presence of uncertainty in system and signal models often degrades the filtering performance and may even cause instability. The methods described are therefore not subject to the rigorous assumptions of traditional Kalman filtering. The monograph is concerned with robust filtering for various dynamical systems with parametric uncertainties, and focuses on parameter-dependent approaches to filter design. Classical filtering schemes, like H2 filtering and H¥ filtering, are addressed, and emerging issues such as robust filtering with constraints on communication channels and signal frequency characteristics are discussed. The text features: ·        design approaches to robust filters arranged according to varying complexity level, and emphasizing robust filtering in the parameter-dependent framework for the first time; ·...

Aspects of Equality in Mandatory Partnerships – From the Perspective of Municipal Care in Norway

Science.gov (United States)

Ljunggren, Birgitte

2016-01-01

Introduction: This paper raises questions about equality in partnerships, since imbalance in partnerships may effect collaboration outcomes in integrated care. We address aspects of equality in mandatory, public-public partnerships, from the perspective of municipal care. We have developed a questionnaire wherein the Norwegian Coordination Reform is an illustrative example. The following research question is addressed: What equality dimensions are important for municipals related to mandatory partnerships with hospitals? Theory/methods: Since we did not find any instrument to measure equality in partnerships, an explorative design was chosen. The development of the instrument was based on the theory on partnership and knowledge about the field and context. A national online survey was emitted to all 429 Norwegian municipalities in 2013. The response rate was in total 58 percent (n = 248). The data were mainly analysed using Principal component analysis. Results: It seems that the two dimensions “learning and expertise equality” and “contractual equality” collects reliable and valid data to measure aspects of equality in partnerships. Discussion: Partnerships are usually based on voluntarism. The results indicate that mandatory partnerships, within a public health care system, can be appropriate to equalize partnerships between health care providers at different care levels. PMID:27616962

Cogema's transatlantic partnership

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McMurphy, M.; Ihde, R.

1991-01-01

Cogema's transatlantic partnership, the B+W Fuel Company, is a natural evolution of Cogema's US fuel cycle activities. The partnership in which important elements of the French nuclear industry teamed with a long-established, well-respected US industrial partner to build a company for the future is explained. 1 fig

Strategic Partnerships in Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Ortega, Janet L.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impacts of strategic partnerships between community colleges and key stakeholders; to specifically examine strategic partnerships; leadership decision-making; criteria to evaluate strategic partnerships that added value to the institution, value to the students, faculty, staff, and the local…

15 CFR 806.12 - Partnerships.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... ECONOMIC ANALYSIS, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE DIRECT INVESTMENT SURVEYS § 806.12 Partnerships. Limited partners do not have voting rights in a partnership and therefore cannot have a direct investment in a... direct investment in a partnership shall be based on the country of residence of, and the percentage...

Assessing robustness of designs for random effects parameters for nonlinear mixed-effects models.

Science.gov (United States)

Duffull, Stephen B; Hooker, Andrew C

2017-12-01

Optimal designs for nonlinear models are dependent on the choice of parameter values. Various methods have been proposed to provide designs that are robust to uncertainty in the prior choice of parameter values. These methods are generally based on estimating the expectation of the determinant (or a transformation of the determinant) of the information matrix over the prior distribution of the parameter values. For high dimensional models this can be computationally challenging. For nonlinear mixed-effects models the question arises as to the importance of accounting for uncertainty in the prior value of the variances of the random effects parameters. In this work we explore the influence of the variance of the random effects parameters on the optimal design. We find that the method for approximating the expectation and variance of the likelihood is of potential importance for considering the influence of random effects. The most common approximation to the likelihood, based on a first-order Taylor series approximation, yields designs that are relatively insensitive to the prior value of the variance of the random effects parameters and under these conditions it appears to be sufficient to consider uncertainty on the fixed-effects parameters only.

Real-time PCR Machine System Modeling and a Systematic Approach for the Robust Design of a Real-time PCR-on-a-Chip System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Da-Sheng Lee

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Chip-based DNA quantification systems are widespread, and used in many point-of-care applications. However, instruments for such applications may not be maintained or calibrated regularly. Since machine reliability is a key issue for normal operation, this study presents a system model of the real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR machine to analyze the instrument design through numerical experiments. Based on model analysis, a systematic approach was developed to lower the variation of DNA quantification and achieve a robust design for a real-time PCR-on-a-chip system. Accelerated lift testing was adopted to evaluate the reliability of the chip prototype. According to the life test plan, this proposed real-time PCR-on-a-chip system was simulated to work continuously for over three years with similar reproducibility in DNA quantification. This not only shows the robustness of the lab-on-a-chip system, but also verifies the effectiveness of our systematic method for achieving a robust design.

Robust holographic storage system design.

Science.gov (United States)

Watanabe, Takahiro; Watanabe, Minoru

2011-11-21

Demand is increasing daily for large data storage systems that are useful for applications in spacecraft, space satellites, and space robots, which are all exposed to radiation-rich space environment. As candidates for use in space embedded systems, holographic storage systems are promising because they can easily provided the demanded large-storage capability. Particularly, holographic storage systems, which have no rotation mechanism, are demanded because they are virtually maintenance-free. Although a holographic memory itself is an extremely robust device even in a space radiation environment, its associated lasers and drive circuit devices are vulnerable. Such vulnerabilities sometimes engendered severe problems that prevent reading of all contents of the holographic memory, which is a turn-off failure mode of a laser array. This paper therefore presents a proposal for a recovery method for the turn-off failure mode of a laser array on a holographic storage system, and describes results of an experimental demonstration. © 2011 Optical Society of America

Integration of uniform design and quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization to the robust design for a railway vehicle suspension system under different wheel conicities and wheel rolling radii

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Yung-Chang; Lee, Cheng-Kang

2017-10-01

This paper proposes a systematic method, integrating the uniform design (UD) of experiments and quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization (QPSO), to solve the problem of a robust design for a railway vehicle suspension system. Based on the new nonlinear creep model derived from combining Hertz contact theory, Kalker's linear theory and a heuristic nonlinear creep model, the modeling and dynamic analysis of a 24 degree-of-freedom railway vehicle system were investigated. The Lyapunov indirect method was used to examine the effects of suspension parameters, wheel conicities and wheel rolling radii on critical hunting speeds. Generally, the critical hunting speeds of a vehicle system resulting from worn wheels with different wheel rolling radii are lower than those of a vehicle system having original wheels without different wheel rolling radii. Because of worn wheels, the critical hunting speed of a running railway vehicle substantially declines over the long term. For safety reasons, it is necessary to design the suspension system parameters to increase the robustness of the system and decrease the sensitive of wheel noises. By applying UD and QPSO, the nominal-the-best signal-to-noise ratio of the system was increased from -48.17 to -34.05 dB. The rate of improvement was 29.31%. This study has demonstrated that the integration of UD and QPSO can successfully reveal the optimal solution of suspension parameters for solving the robust design problem of a railway vehicle suspension system.

Robustness Assessment of Spatial Timber Structures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kirkegaard, Poul Henning

2012-01-01

Robustness of structural systems has obtained a renewed interest due to a much more frequent use of advanced types of structures with limited redundancy and serious consequences in case of failure. In order to minimise the likelihood of such disproportionate structural failures many modern buildi...... to robustness of spatial timber structures and will discuss the consequences of such robustness issues related to the future development of timber structures.......Robustness of structural systems has obtained a renewed interest due to a much more frequent use of advanced types of structures with limited redundancy and serious consequences in case of failure. In order to minimise the likelihood of such disproportionate structural failures many modern building...... codes consider the need for robustness of structures and provide strategies and methods to obtain robustness. Therefore a structural engineer may take necessary steps to design robust structures that are insensitive to accidental circumstances. The present paper summaries issues with respect...

Application of Iterative Robust Model-based Optimal Experimental Design for the Calibration of Biocatalytic Models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Van Daele, Timothy; Gernaey, Krist V.; Ringborg, Rolf Hoffmeyer

2017-01-01

The aim of model calibration is to estimate unique parameter values from available experimental data, here applied to a biocatalytic process. The traditional approach of first gathering data followed by performing a model calibration is inefficient, since the information gathered during...... experimentation is not actively used to optimise the experimental design. By applying an iterative robust model-based optimal experimental design, the limited amount of data collected is used to design additional informative experiments. The algorithm is used here to calibrate the initial reaction rate of an ω......-transaminase catalysed reaction in a more accurate way. The parameter confidence region estimated from the Fisher Information Matrix is compared with the likelihood confidence region, which is a more accurate, but also a computationally more expensive method. As a result, an important deviation between both approaches...

Robust distributed cognitive relay beamforming

KAUST Repository

Pandarakkottilil, Ubaidulla; Aissa, Sonia

2012-01-01

design takes into account a parameter of the error in the channel state information (CSI) to render the performance of the beamformer robust in the presence of imperfect CSI. Though the original problem is non-convex, we show that the proposed design can

DETERMINING A ROBUST D-OPTIMAL DESIGN FOR TESTING FOR DEPARTURE FROM ADDITIVITY IN A MIXTURE OF FOUR PFAAS

Science.gov (United States)

Our objective was to determine an optimal experimental design for a mixture of perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) that is robust to the assumption of additivity. Of particular focus to this research project is whether an environmentally relevant mixture of four PFAAs with long half-liv...

US utility partnerships

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Worthington, B.

1995-01-01

Activities of the United States Energy Association were reviewed, as well as the manner in which its members are benefitting from the Association's programs. The principal cooperative program set up is the Utility Partnership Program, which was described. Through this program the Association is matching US companies, both electric utilities and gas utilities, with counterparts in Eastern Europe or the former Soviet Union. So far, about 25 partnerships were signed, e.g. in the Czech Republic, in Kazakhstan, in Poland, and in Slovakia. It was estimated that the return to the United States from the investments made by the American government in these Utility Partnership Programs has been well over 100-fold

Reinforcement-Learning-Based Robust Controller Design for Continuous-Time Uncertain Nonlinear Systems Subject to Input Constraints.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Derong; Yang, Xiong; Wang, Ding; Wei, Qinglai

2015-07-01

The design of stabilizing controller for uncertain nonlinear systems with control constraints is a challenging problem. The constrained-input coupled with the inability to identify accurately the uncertainties motivates the design of stabilizing controller based on reinforcement-learning (RL) methods. In this paper, a novel RL-based robust adaptive control algorithm is developed for a class of continuous-time uncertain nonlinear systems subject to input constraints. The robust control problem is converted to the constrained optimal control problem with appropriately selecting value functions for the nominal system. Distinct from typical action-critic dual networks employed in RL, only one critic neural network (NN) is constructed to derive the approximate optimal control. Meanwhile, unlike initial stabilizing control often indispensable in RL, there is no special requirement imposed on the initial control. By utilizing Lyapunov's direct method, the closed-loop optimal control system and the estimated weights of the critic NN are proved to be uniformly ultimately bounded. In addition, the derived approximate optimal control is verified to guarantee the uncertain nonlinear system to be stable in the sense of uniform ultimate boundedness. Two simulation examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness and applicability of the present approach.

Partnership for Prescription Assistance

Science.gov (United States)

... may use our name without our permission. The Partnership for Prescription Assistance will help you find the ... Events Blog Facebook Twitter Start living better. The Partnership for Prescription Assistance helps qualifying patients without prescription ...

Secondary Teacher and University Partnerships: Does Being in a Partnership Create Teacher Partners?

Science.gov (United States)

Burrows, Andrea C.

The purpose of this research was to understand how individuals, specifically secondary teachers and graduate engineering students, developed a working relationship in a grant funded project. I investigated three interrelated research questions about partnerships including: 1) What is the meaning of partnership to each individual? 2) How do the individuals negotiate the work in their partnership? and 3) Do the individual conceptions of partnership change as a result of their interactions? I used a qualitative descriptive case study methodology. I conducted nine interviews, four focus groups, 33 classroom field note observations, and collected emails. I detailed each of the three cases, and I conducted a cross case analysis of the three schools. I compared the similarities and differences between the cases in order to understand the partnership themes that defined a specific case and those that were generalized to several cases. Using grounded theory, my overall findings showed that each case generated six themes. These themes included product, perspective, expectations, decision making, relationships, and habit. I explored all six themes in current literature, and five of the six themes were prevalent there. In my study, habit was the core phenomenon but was not as common in the literature. It was related to the socio-cognitive theory of knowledge construction and Bourdieu's habitus. Additionally, it was connected to the concept of change in partnerships.

Solving advanced multi-objective robust designs by means of multiple objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEA): A reliability application

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Salazar A, Daniel E. [Division de Computacion Evolutiva (CEANI), Instituto de Sistemas Inteligentes y Aplicaciones Numericas en Ingenieria (IUSIANI), Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Canary Islands (Spain)]. E-mail: danielsalazaraponte@gmail.com; Rocco S, Claudio M. [Universidad Central de Venezuela, Facultad de Ingenieria, Caracas (Venezuela)]. E-mail: crocco@reacciun.ve

2007-06-15

This paper extends the approach proposed by the second author in [Rocco et al. Robust design using a hybrid-cellular-evolutionary and interval-arithmetic approach: a reliability application. In: Tarantola S, Saltelli A, editors. SAMO 2001: Methodological advances and useful applications of sensitivity analysis. Reliab Eng Syst Saf 2003;79(2):149-59 [special issue

The UK High Power RF Faraday Partnership Industrial, Academia, and Public Collaboration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Phelps, A.D.R.; Carter, R.G.; Clunie, D.; Bowater, S.P.; Ellis, D.; Gamble, D.; Large, T.; Lucas, W.; Pettit, C.; Poole, M. W.; Smith, H.; Smith, P.W.; Wilcox, D.M.

2003-01-01

The High Power Radio Frequency (HPRF) Faraday Partnership is a UK technology forum for all users, designers, developers and researchers of RF and microwave devices and systems. High power RF and microwave engineering are key enabling technologies in a wide range of industrial sectors. Formed in October 2001 and funded initially by the UK Department of Trade and Industry and the UK Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, the purpose of the HPRF Faraday Partnership is the development of a vibrant research, development and manufacturing base capable of exploiting opportunities in high power radio-frequency engineering. The partnership includes the key UK industrial companies, research laboratories and university research groups. The number of partners is constantly growing and already numbers over thirty. The partnership provides the enabling technology for future high power RF systems and their power supplies through its research programme. It is training people for the sector through PhD studentships and employment as Research Associates. It is planned to develop a Masters Training program. Support and involvement in research for companies in the supply chain is provided through a Partnership Office, a web site and through a range of government funded research schemes. The HPRF Faraday Partnership is seeking to establish more long term international research and development collaborations

Partnerships for optimizing organizational flexibility

Science.gov (United States)

Louis Poliquin

1999-01-01

For the purpose of this conference, I was asked to discuss partnerships in general. We will first review the reasons that bring organizations to enter into a collaborative agreement, then provide examples of different types of partnerships, discuss some factors that seem to explain the success of partnerships, and review important points to consider before preparing...

ATTAINING UNIVERSAL ACCESS: PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP AND BUSINESS-NGO PARTNERSHIP

OpenAIRE

Chowdhury, Shyamal K.

2002-01-01

This paper evaluates two alternative mechanisms, Public-Private Partnership in Peru and Business-NGO Partnership in Bangladesh, that provide rural people with access to telecommunications. The two mechanisms that are examined here are considered as two best practices in the provision of rural telecommunications in the context of developing countries. Under two geographically distinct market segments, rural market characterized by low per-subscriber revenue and urban market characterized by hi...

A Staff Development Program Designed To Reach the Partnership School's Goals: Cooperative Learning Strategies, Coaching Sessions and a Narrowed Academic Performance Gap among Student Populations.

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Kathy; Karr-Kidwell, PJ

This paper describes the design and implementation of a staff-development program at Vivian Field Junior High School in Carrollton, Texas. The school is a member of the Texas Partnership School Initiative, which was created to give schools latitude in raising student achievement. The goal of the staff-development program was to identify gains in…

Robust Structural Analysis and Design of Distributed Control Systems to Prevent Zero Dynamics Attacks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Weerakkody, Sean [Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States); Liu, Xiaofei [Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States); Sinopoli, Bruno [Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)

2017-12-12

We consider the design and analysis of robust distributed control systems (DCSs) to ensure the detection of integrity attacks. DCSs are often managed by independent agents and are implemented using a diverse set of sensors and controllers. However, the heterogeneous nature of DCSs along with their scale leave such systems vulnerable to adversarial behavior. To mitigate this reality, we provide tools that allow operators to prevent zero dynamics attacks when as many as p agents and sensors are corrupted. Such a design ensures attack detectability in deterministic systems while removing the threat of a class of stealthy attacks in stochastic systems. To achieve this goal, we use graph theory to obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for the presence of zero dynamics attacks in terms of the structural interactions between agents and sensors. We then formulate and solve optimization problems which minimize communication networks while also ensuring a resource limited adversary cannot perform a zero dynamics attacks. Polynomial time algorithms for design and analysis are provided.

Robust Engineering Designs for Infrastructure Adaptation to a Changing Climate

Science.gov (United States)

Samaras, C.; Cook, L.

2015-12-01

Infrastructure systems are expected to be functional, durable and safe over long service lives - 50 to over 100 years. Observations and models of climate science show that greenhouse gas emissions resulting from human activities have changed climate, weather and extreme events. Projections of future changes (albeit with uncertainties caused by inadequacies of current climate/weather models) can be made based on scenarios for future emissions, but actual future emissions are themselves uncertain. Most current engineering standards and practices for infrastructure assume that the probabilities of future extreme climate and weather events will match those of the past. Climate science shows that this assumption is invalid, but is unable, at present, to define these probabilities over the service lives of existing and new infrastructure systems. Engineering designs, plans, and institutions and regulations will need to be adaptable for a range of future conditions (conditions of climate, weather and extreme events, as well as changing societal demands for infrastructure services). For their current and future projects, engineers should: Involve all stakeholders (owners, financers, insurance, regulators, affected public, climate/weather scientists, etc.) in key decisions; Use low regret, adaptive strategies, such as robust decision making and the observational method, comply with relevant standards and regulations, and exceed their requirements where appropriate; Publish design studies and performance/failure investigations to extend the body of knowledge for advancement of practice. The engineering community should conduct observational and modeling research with climate/weather/social scientists and the concerned communities and account rationally for climate change in revised engineering standards and codes. This presentation presents initial research on decisionmaking under uncertainty for climate resilient infrastructure design.

Forming and sustaining partnerships to provide integrated services for young people: an overview based on the headspace Geelong experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Callaly, Tom; von Treuer, Kathryn; van Hamond, Toni; Windle, Kelly

2011-02-01

To discuss critical considerations in the formation and maintenance of agency partnerships designed to provide integrated care for young people. Two years after its establishment, an evaluation of the headspace Barwon collaboration and a review of the health-care and management literature on agency collaboration were conducted. The principal findings together with the authors' experience working at establishing and maintaining the partnership are used to discuss critical issues in forming and maintaining inter-agency partnerships. Structural and process considerations are necessary but not sufficient for the successful formation and maintenance of inter-agency partnerships and integrated care provision. Specifically, organizational culture change and staff engagement is a significant challenge and planning for this is essential and often neglected. Although agreeing on common goals and objectives is an essential first step in forming partnerships designed to provide integrated care, goodwill is not enough, and the literature consistently shows that most collaborations fail to meet their objectives. Principles and lessons of organizational behaviour and management practices in the business sector can contribute a great deal to partnership planning. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Developing a framework for successful research partnerships in global health.

Science.gov (United States)

Larkan, Fiona; Uduma, Ogenna; Lawal, Saheed Akinmayọwa; van Bavel, Bianca

2016-05-06

The Centre for Global Health, Trinity College Dublin has as one of its goals, strengthening health systems in developing countries. In realising this goal we work across more than 40 countries with third-level, civil society, government, private sector and UN partners. Each of these requires that different relationships be established. Good principles must guide all global health research partnerships. An exploratory research project was undertaken with research partners of, and staff within, the Centre for Global Health. The aim was to build an evidence-based framework. An inductive exploratory research process was undertaken using a grounded theory approach in three consecutive phases: Phase I: An open-ended questionnaire was sent via email to all identified partners. Phase II: A series of consultative meetings were held with the staff of the Centre for Global Health. Phase III: Data sets from Phases I and II were applied to the development of a unifying framework. Data was analysed using grounded theory three stage thematic analysis - open, axial and selective coding. Relational and operational aspects of partnership were highlighted as being relevant across every partnership. Seven equally important core concepts emerged (focus, values, equity, benefit, leadership, communication and resolution), and are described and discussed here. Of these, two (leadership and resolution) are less often considered in existing literature on partnerships. Large complex partnerships can work well if all parties are agreed in advance to a common minimum programme, have been involved from the design stage, and have adequate resources specifically allocated. Based on this research, a framework for partnerships has been developed and is shared.

Real-time control systems: feedback, scheduling and robustness

Science.gov (United States)

Simon, Daniel; Seuret, Alexandre; Sename, Olivier

2017-08-01

The efficient control of real-time distributed systems, where continuous components are governed through digital devices and communication networks, needs a careful examination of the constraints arising from the different involved domains inside co-design approaches. Thanks to the robustness of feedback control, both new control methodologies and slackened real-time scheduling schemes are proposed beyond the frontiers between these traditionally separated fields. A methodology to design robust aperiodic controllers is provided, where the sampling interval is considered as a control variable of the system. Promising experimental results are provided to show the feasibility and robustness of the approach.

Public-private partnership oversight : how FHWA reviews P3s.

Science.gov (United States)

2015-01-01

A growing number of State and local transportation agencies are considering the use of public-private : partnerships (P3s), in which a private entity is involved in designing, financing, constructing, operating, : and maintaining a transportation fac...

Teacher/Intern Partnerships in Isolated Areas: A Project Overview.

Science.gov (United States)

Yarrow, Allan; Ballantyne, Roy; Hansford, Brian; Herschell, Paul; Millwater, Jan

1998-01-01

Describes a collaborative project designed to better prepare Australian preservice teachers for teaching in remote schools through six-week rural mentorship programs and joint preservice and inservice professional development. Discusses how development of partnerships among cooperating institutions and between teachers, student teachers, and the…

Identification and robust control of an experimental servo motor.

Science.gov (United States)

Adam, E J; Guestrin, E D

2002-04-01

In this work, the design of a robust controller for an experimental laboratory-scale position control system based on a dc motor drive as well as the corresponding identification and robust stability analysis are presented. In order to carry out the robust design procedure, first, a classic closed-loop identification technique is applied and then, the parametrization by internal model control is used. The model uncertainty is evaluated under both parametric and global representation. For the latter case, an interesting discussion about the conservativeness of this description is presented by means of a comparison between the uncertainty disk and the critical perturbation radius approaches. Finally, conclusions about the performance of the experimental system with the robust controller are discussed using comparative graphics of the controlled variable and the Nyquist stability margin as a robustness measurement.

Robust entry guidance using linear covariance-based model predictive control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jianjun Luo

2017-02-01

Full Text Available For atmospheric entry vehicles, guidance design can be accomplished by solving an optimal issue using optimal control theories. However, traditional design methods generally focus on the nominal performance and do not include considerations of the robustness in the design process. This paper proposes a linear covariance-based model predictive control method for robust entry guidance design. Firstly, linear covariance analysis is employed to directly incorporate the robustness into the guidance design. The closed-loop covariance with the feedback updated control command is initially formulated to provide the expected errors of the nominal state variables in the presence of uncertainties. Then, the closed-loop covariance is innovatively used as a component of the cost function to guarantee the robustness to reduce its sensitivity to uncertainties. After that, the models predictive control is used to solve the optimal problem, and the control commands (bank angles are calculated. Finally, a series of simulations for different missions have been completed to demonstrate the high performance in precision and the robustness with respect to initial perturbations as well as uncertainties in the entry process. The 3σ confidence region results in the presence of uncertainties which show that the robustness of the guidance has been improved, and the errors of the state variables are decreased by approximately 35%.

Managing cultural diversity in healthcare partnerships: the case of LIFT.

Science.gov (United States)

Mannion, Russell; Brown, Sally; Beck, Matthias; Lunt, Neil

2011-01-01

The National Health Service (NHS) Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) programme was launched in 2001 as an innovative public-private partnership to address the historical under-investment in local primary care facilities in England. The organisations from the public and private sector that comprise a local LIFT partnership each have their own distinctive norms of behaviour and acceptable working practices - ultimately different organisational cultures. The purpose of this article is to assess the role of organisational culture in facilitating (or impeding) LIFT partnerships and to contribute to an understanding of how cultural diversity in public-private partnerships is managed at the local level. The approach taken was qualitative case studies, with data gathering comprising interviews and a review of background documentation in three LIFT companies purposefully sampled to represent a range of background factors. Elite interviews were also conducted with senior policy makers responsible for implementing LIFT policy at the national level. Interpreting the data against a conceptual framework designed to assess approaches to managing strategic alliances, the authors identified a number of key differences in the values, working practices and cultures in public and private organisations that influenced the quality of joint working. On the whole, however, partners in the three LIFT companies appeared to be working well together, with neither side dominating the development of strategy. Differences in culture were being managed and accommodated as partnerships matured. As LIFT develops and becomes the primary source of investment for managing, developing and channelling funding into regenerating the primary care infrastructure, further longitudinal work might examine how ongoing partnerships are working, and how changes in the cultures of public and private partners impact upon wider relationships within local health economies and shape the delivery of patient care

PLAINS CO2 REDUCTION (PCOR) PARTNERSHIP

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Edward N. Steadman; Daniel J. Daly; Lynette L. de Silva; John A. Harju; Melanie D. Jensen; Erin M. O' Leary; Wesley D. Peck; Steven A. Smith; James A. Sorensen

2006-01-01

During the period of October 1, 2003, through September 30, 2005, the Plains CO2 Reduction (PCOR) Partnership, identified geologic and terrestrial candidates for near-term practical and environmentally sound carbon dioxide (CO2) sequestration demonstrations in the heartland of North America. The PCOR Partnership region covered nine states and three Canadian provinces. The validation test candidates were further vetted to ensure that they represented projects with (1) commercial potential and (2) a mix that would support future projects both dependent and independent of CO2 monetization. This report uses the findings contained in the PCOR Partnership's two dozen topical reports and half-dozen fact sheets as well as the capabilities of its geographic information system-based Decision Support System to provide a concise picture of the sequestration potential for both terrestrial and geologic sequestration in the PCOR Partnership region based on assessments of sources, sinks, regulations, deployment issues, transportation, and capture and separation. The report also includes concise action plans for deployment and public education and outreach as well as a brief overview of the structure, development, and capabilities of the PCOR Partnership. The PCOR Partnership is one of seven regional partnerships under Phase I of the U.S. Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory's Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership program. The PCOR Partnership, comprising 49 public and private sector members, is led by the Energy & Environmental Research Center at the University of North Dakota. The international PCOR Partnership region includes the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba and the states of Montana (part), Wyoming (part), North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

48 CFR 1401.370 - Acquisition Managers' Partnership.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

...' Partnership. 1401.370 Section 1401.370 Federal Acquisition Regulations System DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR... Acquisition Managers' Partnership. (a) The Acquisition Managers' Partnership (AMP) is a forum for DOI's senior... the partnership will meet and develops meeting agendas. The Chairperson will distribute the meeting...

Information partnerships--shared data, shared scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Konsynski, B R; McFarlan, F W

1990-01-01

How can one company gain access to another's resources or customers without merging ownership, management, or plotting a takeover? The answer is found in new information partnerships, enabling diverse companies to develop strategic coalitions through the sharing of data. The key to cooperation is a quantum improvement in the hardware and software supporting relational databases: new computer speeds, cheaper mass-storage devices, the proliferation of fiber-optic networks, and networking architectures. Information partnerships mean that companies can distribute the technological and financial exposure that comes with huge investments. For the customer's part, partnerships inevitably lead to greater simplification on the desktop and more common standards around which vendors have to compete. The most common types of partnership are: joint marketing partnerships, such as American Airline's award of frequent flyer miles to customers who use Citibank's credit card; intraindustry partnerships, such as the insurance value-added network service (which links insurance and casualty companies to independent agents); customer-supplier partnerships, such as Baxter Healthcare's electronic channel to hospitals for medical and other equipment; and IT vendor-driven partnerships, exemplified by ESAB (a European welding supplies and equipment company), whose expansion strategy was premised on a technology platform offered by an IT vendor. Partnerships that succeed have shared vision at the top, reciprocal skills in information technology, concrete plans for an early success, persistence in the development of usable information for all partners, coordination on business policy, and a new and imaginative business architecture.

Generation After Next Propulsor Research: Robust Design for Embedded Engine Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Arend, David J.; Tillman, Gregory; O'Brien, Walter F.

2012-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, United Technologies Research Center and Virginia Polytechnic and State University have contracted to pursue multi-disciplinary research into boundary layer ingesting (BLI) propulsors for generation after next environmentally responsible subsonic fixed wing aircraft. This Robust Design for Embedded Engine Systems project first conducted a high-level vehicle system study based on a large commercial transport class hybrid wing body aircraft, which determined that a 3 to 5 percent reduction in fuel burn could be achieved over a 7,500 nanometer mission. Both pylon-mounted baseline and BLI propulsion systems were based on a low-pressure-ratio fan (1.35) in an ultra-high-bypass ratio engine (16), consistent with the next generation of advanced commercial turbofans. An optimized, coupled BLI inlet and fan system was subsequently designed to achieve performance targets identified in the system study. The resulting system possesses an inlet with total pressure losses less than 0.5%, and a fan stage with an efficiency debit of less than 1.5 percent relative to the pylon-mounted, clean-inflow baseline. The subject research project has identified tools and methodologies necessary for the design of next-generation, highly-airframe-integrated propulsion systems. These tools will be validated in future large-scale testing of the BLI inlet / fan system in NASA's 8 foot x 6 foot transonic wind tunnel. In addition, fan unsteady response to screen-generated total pressure distortion is being characterized experimentally in a JT15D engine test rig. These data will document engine sensitivities to distortion magnitude and spatial distribution, providing early insight into key physical processes that will control BLI propulsor design.

Clarifying Parents' and Pediatricians' Views of Partnership.

Science.gov (United States)

Rapp, Richard C; Pascoe, John

2016-01-01

Given the importance of partnership in improving health care outcomes among children, there is a substantial need to understand better what partnership means to parents and physicians. The goal of this study was to develop a partnership survey that was based on parents' and pediatricians' opinions about the key concepts of partnership. Parents of patients visiting an affluent suburban private practice and a federally qualified health center, and 2 groups of pediatricians, were asked to review 61 partnership concepts and identify those they considered as being important to partnership. Parents and pediatricians from both practices agreed that 42 (68.9%) of the concepts were important to partnership. Sixteen of these concepts were dropped because they were redundant. Parents from both the suburban practice and health center identified 5 (8.2%) concepts that they believed contributed to partnership. Seven (11.5%) concepts were viewed as important to parents and pediatricians from the suburban practice but not to parents from the health center. Significant socioeconomic differences between the 2 parent groups suggested factors that explained the differences between parent groups. The 38 concepts endorsed by parents and pediatricians provided a nuanced view of partnership and formed the Parent Pediatrician Partnership Survey. © Copyright 2016 by the American Board of Family Medicine.

Structural Robustness Evaluation of Offshore Wind Turbines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Giuliani, Luisa; Bontempi, Franco

2010-01-01

in the framework of a safe design: it depends on different factors, like exposure, vulnerability and robustness. Particularly, the requirement of structural vulnerability and robustness are discussed in this paper and a numerical application is presented, in order to evaluate the effects of a ship collision...

Self-optimizing robust nonlinear model predictive control

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lazar, M.; Heemels, W.P.M.H.; Jokic, A.; Thoma, M.; Allgöwer, F.; Morari, M.

2009-01-01

This paper presents a novel method for designing robust MPC schemes that are self-optimizing in terms of disturbance attenuation. The method employs convex control Lyapunov functions and disturbance bounds to optimize robustness of the closed-loop system on-line, at each sampling instant - a unique

Determining a Robust D-Optimal Design for Testing for Departure from Additivity in a Mixture of Four Perfluoroalkyl Acids.

Science.gov (United States)

Our objective is to determine an optimal experimental design for a mixture of perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) that is robust to the assumption of additivity. PFAAs are widely used in consumer products and industrial applications. The presence and persistence of PFAAs, especially in ...

Robust and Adaptive Control With Aerospace Applications

CERN Document Server

Lavretsky, Eugene

2013-01-01

Robust and Adaptive Control shows the reader how to produce consistent and accurate controllers that operate in the presence of uncertainties and unforeseen events. Driven by aerospace applications the focus of the book is primarily on continuous-dynamical systems.  The text is a three-part treatment, beginning with robust and optimal linear control methods and moving on to a self-contained presentation of the design and analysis of model reference adaptive control (MRAC) for nonlinear uncertain dynamical systems. Recent extensions and modifications to MRAC design are included, as are guidelines for combining robust optimal and MRAC controllers. Features of the text include: ·         case studies that demonstrate the benefits of robust and adaptive control for piloted, autonomous and experimental aerial platforms; ·         detailed background material for each chapter to motivate theoretical developments; ·         realistic examples and simulation data illustrating key features ...

Using a Robust Design Approach to Optimize Chair Set-up in Wheelchair Sport

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David S. Haydon

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Optimisation of wheelchairs for court sports is currently a difficult and time-consuming process due to the broad range of impairments across athletes, difficulties in monitoring on-court performance, and the trade-off set-up that parameters have on key performance variables. A robust design approach to this problem can potentially reduce the amount of testing required, and therefore allow for individual on-court assessments. This study used orthogonal design with four set-up factors (seat height, depth, and angle, as well as tyre pressure at three levels (current, decreased, and increased for three elite wheelchair rugby players. Each player performed two maximal effort sprints from a stationary position in nine different set-ups, with this allowing for detailed analysis of each factor and level. Whilst statistical significance is difficult to obtain due to the small sample size, meaningful difference results aligning with previous research findings were identified and provide support for the use of this approach.

Sensorless AC electric motor control robust advanced design techniques and applications

CERN Document Server

Glumineau, Alain

2015-01-01

This monograph shows the reader how to avoid the burdens of sensor cost, reduced internal physical space, and system complexity in the control of AC motors. Many applications fields—electric vehicles, wind- and wave-energy converters and robotics, among them—will benefit. Sensorless AC Electric Motor Control describes the elimination of physical sensors and their replacement with observers, i.e., software sensors. Robustness is introduced to overcome problems associated with the unavoidable imperfection of knowledge of machine parameters—resistance, inertia, and so on—encountered in real systems. The details of a large number of speed- and/or position-sensorless ideas for different types of permanent-magnet synchronous motors and induction motors are presented along with several novel observer designs for electrical machines. Control strategies are developed using high-order, sliding-mode and quasi-continuous-sliding-mode techniques and two types of observer–controller schemes based on backstepping ...

Quality partnerships: The community stakeholders' view

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vhonani Netshandama

2010-11-01

Full Text Available Since 1997 universities in South Africa have been encouraged to be responsive to the needs of communities, to encourage broader participation and to address issues of access in higher education (Department of Education 1997. This transformative agenda was found to be especially compelling in the case of rural-based South African universities, which often serve historically disadvantaged black populations in areas that are both under-resourced and underdeveloped (Nkomo & Sehoole 2007, pp. 235–36. In 2006 the traditional leadership of a local community approached the University of Venda to propose a partnership. This prompted the researcher to conduct a qualitative study, which sought to explore and describe community members’ views of what they understood to be a quality partnership. Thirty-seven community representatives were engaged in individual as well as focus group interviews. These representatives were identified first through a stakeholder analysis procedure that sought to determine who in the community would have valuable input for the university-community partnership. As a point of departure, the following two questions were asked consecutively: What are your needs and expectations of a partnership with the university and what would you regard as a quality partnership between the HEI and the community? The sample selection was purposive, utilising the snowball technique. Data was transcribed and analysed using Tesch’s eight-step method (Tesch 1990, in Creswell 1994, p. 155. Interview data and field notes were co-coded, crosschecked and triangulated. Feedback workshops were conducted with the community to confirm the findings. A consensus was reached that four main requirements emerged from the data: —Balance the partnership objectives of both parties —Ensure an unexploitative partnership —Share power and control in the partnership —Maintain and monitor the partnership. This article provides a brief overview of the national

Mexico and the 21st Century Power Partnership: Paving the Way to a Greener, Smarter, More Flexible Grid

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None, None

2016-05-01

The 21st Century Power Partnership's program in Mexico (21CPP Mexico) is one initiative of the Clean Energy Ministerial carried out in cooperation with government and local stakeholders, drawing upon an international community of power system expertise.The overall goal of this program is to support Mexico's power system transformation by accelerating the transition to a reliable, financially robust, and low-carbon system.

PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP IN SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE MUSEUMS: UNUSED MODERNIZATION RESOURCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. V. Polyanskova

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Summary. Public-private partnership practically in all developed and developing countries of the world is recognized as the effective mechanism of social and economic tasks realization of society and state. The most popular use of the economic cooperation tools between business and government in areas such as the creation and modernization of infrastructure, transport infrastructure, road construction, municipal services (housing and communal services, the military-industrial complex, less social infrastructure. A large number of scientific, educational, recommendatory, reference and other books of domestic and foreign authors is developed for each of the called directions, various models of projects implementation of public-private partnership are developed and perfected. Unfortunately, to the sphere of culture it isn't paid due attention. State-private and municipal and private partnership in practice are quite successfully used for increase of efficiency of activity of establishments and objects of culture, but this positive experience isn't systematized and not fixed anywhere, the conceptual model of public-private partnership projects in culture is also not developed. Thus, a research objective is to design initiatives development and offers on modernization of the culture sphere on the basis of instruments of public-private partnership. The subject of the study is a set of administrative, economic and legal relations arising in the implementation of projects in the sphere of the Samara region culture on the basis of public-private partnerships. This article presents the results of a public-private partnerships study as uninvolved resource of the culture sphere modernization and the public-private partnership model developed by authors for projects in this sphere.

Cross-Sector Partnership Formation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

I. Stöteler (Ismaela); S. Reeder (Sabine); R.J.M. van Tulder (Rob)

2012-01-01

textabstractA cross-sector partnership is a collaborative effort in which parties from different societal sectors pool resources to provide solutions to (perceived) common problems. These partnerships are often rather complex because of a number of reasons: (1) they address complex issues, (2) they

Robust Optimization Using Supremum of the Objective Function for Nonlinear Programming Problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Se Jung; Park, Gyung Jin

2014-01-01

In the robust optimization field, the robustness of the objective function emphasizes an insensitive design. In general, the robustness of the objective function can be achieved by reducing the change of the objective function with respect to the variation of the design variables and parameters. However, in conventional methods, when an insensitive design is emphasized, the performance of the objective function can be deteriorated. Besides, if the numbers of the design variables are increased, the numerical cost is quite high in robust optimization for nonlinear programming problems. In this research, the robustness index for the objective function and a process of robust optimization are proposed. Moreover, a method using the supremum of linearized functions is also proposed to reduce the computational cost. Mathematical examples are solved for the verification of the proposed method and the results are compared with those from the conventional methods. The proposed approach improves the performance of the objective function and its efficiency

Factors influencing early stage healthcare-academia partnerships.

Science.gov (United States)

Uvhagen, Håkan; von Knorring, Mia; Hasson, Henna; Øvretveit, John; Hansson, Johan

2018-02-12

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore factors influencing early implementation and intermediate outcomes of a healthcare-academia partnership in a primary healthcare setting. Design/methodology/approach The Academic Primary Healthcare Network (APHN) initiative was launched in 2011 in Stockholm County, Sweden and included 201 primary healthcare centres. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2013-2014 with all coordinating managers ( n=8) and coordinators ( n=4). A strategic change model framework was used to collect and analyse data. Findings Several factors were identified to aid early implementation: assignment and guidelines that allowed flexibility; supportive management; dedicated staff; facilities that enabled APHN actions to be integrated into healthcare practice; and positive experiences from research and educational activities. Implementation was hindered by: discrepancies between objectives and resources; underspecified guidelines that trigger passivity; limited research and educational activities; a conflicting non-supportive reimbursement system; limited planning; and organisational fragmentation. Intermediate outcomes revealed that various actions, informed by the APHN assignment, were launched in all APHNs. Practical implications The findings can be rendered applicable by preparing stakeholders in healthcare services to optimise early implementation of healthcare-academia partnerships. Originality/value This study increases understanding of interactions between factors that influence early stage partnerships between healthcare services and academia in primary healthcare settings.

Partnership readiness for community-based participatory research.

Science.gov (United States)

Andrews, Jeannette O; Newman, Susan D; Meadows, Otha; Cox, Melissa J; Bunting, Shelia

2012-08-01

The use of a dyadic lens to assess and leverage academic and community partners' readiness to conduct community-based participatory research (CBPR) has not been systematically investigated. With a lack of readiness to conduct CBPR, the partnership and its products are vulnerable. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the dimensions and key indicators necessary for academic and community partnership readiness to conduct CBPR. Key informant interviews and focus groups (n = 36 participants) were conducted with academic and community participants who had experiences with CBPR partnerships. A 'framework analysis' approach was used to analyze the data and generate a new model, CBPR Partnership Readiness Model. Antecedents of CBPR partnership readiness are a catalyst and mutual interest. The major dimensions of the CBPR Partnership Readiness Model are (i) goodness of fit, (ii) capacity, and (iii) operations. Preferred outcomes are sustainable partnership and product, mutual growth, policy and social and health impact on the community. CBPR partnership readiness is an iterative and dynamic process, partnership and issue specific, influenced by a range of environmental and contextual factors, amenable to change and essential for sustainability and promotion of health and social change in the community.

Assessment of Process Robustness for Mass Customization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Kjeld; Brunø, Thomas Ditlev

2013-01-01

robustness and their capability to develop it. Through literature study and analysis of robust process design characteristics a number of metrics are described which can be used for assessment. The metrics are evaluated and analyzed to be applied as KPI’s to help MC companies prioritize efforts in business...

Robust blood-glucose control using Mathematica.

Science.gov (United States)

Kovács, Levente; Paláncz, Béla; Benyó, Balázs; Török, László; Benyó, Zoltán

2006-01-01

A robust control design on frequency domain using Mathematica is presented for regularization of glucose level in type I diabetes persons under intensive care. The method originally proposed under Mathematica by Helton and Merino, --now with an improved disturbance rejection constraint inequality--is employed, using a three-state minimal patient model. The robustness of the resulted high-order linear controller is demonstrated by nonlinear closed loop simulation in state-space, in case of standard meal disturbances and is compared with H infinity design implemented with the mu-toolbox of Matlab. The controller designed with model parameters represented the most favorable plant dynamics from the point of view of control purposes, can operate properly even in case of parameter values of the worst-case scenario.

Leveraging Relational Technology through Industry Partnerships.

Science.gov (United States)

Brush, Leonard M.; Schaller, Anthony J.

1988-01-01

Carnegie Mellon University has leveraged its technological expertise with database management systems (DBMS) into joint technological and developmental partnerships with DBMS and application software vendors. Carnegie's relational database strategy, the strategy of partnerships and how they were formed, and how the partnerships are doing are…

Public-private partnership in theory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Blaž Vrhnjak

2007-07-01

Full Text Available Background: In political and other debates much of attention is paid to public – private partnerships (PPPs. These partnerships are perceived as a tool of meeting public demand by private supply. In theory there are at least four different forms of contract partnerships according to the amount of risks transferred to the private sector.Conclusions: Public – private partnerships are neither the only neither the preferred way of providing public service. On one hand they tend to lower financial burden of the public sector but on the other hand PPPs require complex ways of management and monitoring. It is highly important to consider specific circumstances of individual projects in question.

Robust design for shape parameters of high pressure thermal vapor compressor by numerical analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Il Seouk

2008-01-01

A high motive pressure Thermal Vapor Compressor(TVC) for a commercial Multi-Effect Desalination(MED) plant is designed to have a high entraining performance and its robustness is also considered in the respect of operating stability at the abrupt change of the operating pressures like the motive and suction steam pressure which can be easily fluctuated by the external disturbance. The TVC having a good entraining performance of more than entrainment ratio 6.0 is designed through the iterative CFD analysis for the various primary nozzle diameter, mixing tube diameter and mixing tube length. And then for a couple of TVC having a similar entrainment ratio, the changes of the entrainment ratio are checked along the motive and suction pressure change. The system stability is diagnosed through the analyzing the changing pattern of the entrainment ratio

An investigation into international business collaboration in higher education organisations: a case study of international partnerships in four UK leading universities

OpenAIRE

Ayoubi, R; Al-Habaibeh, A

2006-01-01

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to develop a comparative analysis of the main objectives of international institutional partnerships in four UK leading universities. Based on the presented case studies, the paper outlines a model for objectives and implementation of international partnership. Design/methodology/approach - Using a multiple case study approach, the paper employs three sources of data: templates of international partnerships, actual agreements of international partnership...

Robust Helicopter Stabilization in the Face of Wind Disturbance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

A. Danapalasingam, Kumeresan; Leth, John-Josef; la Cour-Harbo, Anders

2010-01-01

When a helicopter is required to hover with minimum deviations from a desired position without measurements of an affecting persistent wind disturbance, a robustly stabilizing control action is vital. In this paper, the stabilization of the position and translational velocity of a nonlinear...... controller is then designed based on nonlinear adaptive output regulations and robust stabilization of a chain of integrators by a saturated feedback. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the control design in the stabilization of helicopter motion and the built-in robustness of the controller...

Evaluating Global Health Partnerships: A Case Study of a Gavi HPV Vaccine Application Process in Uganda

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carol Kamya

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Background Global health partnerships have grown rapidly in number and scope, yet there has been less emphasis on their evaluation. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is one such public-private partnership; in Gavi-eligible countries partnerships are dynamic networks of immunization actors who work together to support all stages and aspects of Gavi support. This paper describes a conceptual framework – the partnership framework – and analytic approach for evaluating the perceptions of partnerships’ added value as well as the results from an application to one case in Uganda. Methods We used a mixed-methods case study design embedded in the Gavi Full Country Evaluations (FCE to test the partnership framework on Uganda’s human papillomavirus (HPV vaccine application partnership. Data from document review, interviews, and social network surveys enabled the testing of the relationships between partnership framework domains (context, structure, practices, performance, and outcomes. Topic guides were based on the framework domains and network surveys identified working together relationships, professional trust, and perceptions of the effectiveness, efficiency, and legitimacy of the partnership’s role in this process. Results Data from seven in-depth interviews, 11 network surveys and document review were analyzed according to the partnership framework, confirming relationships between the framework domains. Trust was an important contributor to the perceived effectiveness of the process. The network was structured around the EPI program, who was considered the leader of this process. While the structure and composition of the network was largely viewed as supporting an effective and legitimate process, the absence of the Ministry of Education (MoE may have had downstream consequences if this study’s results had not been shared with the Ministry of Health (MoH and acted upon. The partnership was not perceived to have increased the efficiency of

Control system design for electrical stimulation in upper limb rehabilitation modelling, identification and robust performance

CERN Document Server

Freeman, Chris

2016-01-01

This book presents a comprehensive framework for model-based electrical stimulation (ES) controller design, covering the whole process needed to develop a system for helping people with physical impairments perform functional upper limb tasks such as eating, grasping and manipulating objects. The book first demonstrates procedures for modelling and identifying biomechanical models of the response of ES, covering a wide variety of aspects including mechanical support structures, kinematics, electrode placement, tasks, and sensor locations. It then goes on to demonstrate how complex functional activities of daily living can be captured in the form of optimisation problems, and extends ES control design to address this case. It then lays out a design methodology, stability conditions, and robust performance criteria that enable control schemes to be developed systematically and transparently, ensuring that they can operate effectively in the presence of realistic modelling uncertainty, physiological variation an...

How to ensure partnerships go wrong

OpenAIRE

Peters, Geoff

2011-01-01

This paper is based upon recent academic research on partnership working in a variety of contexts and personal experience of strategic partnerships in the UK. The paper uses examples to draw out some general lessons about when partnerships are likely to succeed and when they may fail.

Collaborative Research Partnerships for Knowledge Mobilisation

Science.gov (United States)

Edelstein, Hilary

2016-01-01

This study examines elements of collaborative research partnerships (CRPs) between university researchers and organisations who engage in knowledge mobilisation activities in education. The study uses key informant interviews and document analysis from one type of partnership, and a survey of university-community partnerships across Canada to…

Internal Model-Based Robust Tracking Control Design for the MEMS Electromagnetic Micromirror.

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Jiazheng; Sun, Weijie; Yeow, John T W

2017-05-26

The micromirror based on micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technology is widely employed in different areas, such as scanning, imaging and optical switching. This paper studies the MEMS electromagnetic micromirror for scanning or imaging application. In these application scenarios, the micromirror is required to track the command sinusoidal signal, which can be converted to an output regulation problem theoretically. In this paper, based on the internal model principle, the output regulation problem is solved by designing a robust controller that is able to force the micromirror to track the command signal accurately. The proposed controller relies little on the accuracy of the model. Further, the proposed controller is implemented, and its effectiveness is examined by experiments. The experimental results demonstrate that the performance of the proposed controller is satisfying.

Robust synthesis for real-time systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Kim Guldstrand; Legay, Axel; Traonouez, Luois-Marie

2014-01-01

Specification theories for real-time systems allow reasoning about interfaces and their implementation models, using a set of operators that includes satisfaction, refinement, logical and parallel composition. To make such theories applicable throughout the entire design process from an abstract...... of introducing small perturbations into formal models. We address this problem of robust implementations in timed specification theories. We first consider a fixed perturbation and study the robustness of timed specifications with respect to the operators of the theory. To this end we synthesize robust...... specification to an implementation, we need to reason about the possibility to effectively implement the theoretical specifications on physical systems, despite their limited precision. In the literature, this implementation problem has been linked to the robustness problem that analyzes the consequences...

The Case: Bunche-Da Vinci Learning Partnership Academy

Science.gov (United States)

Eisenberg, Nicole; Winters, Lynn; Alkin, Marvin C.

2005-01-01

The Bunche-Da Vinci case described in this article presents a situation at Bunche Elementary School that four theorists were asked to address in their evaluation designs (see EJ791771, EJ719772, EJ791773, and EJ792694). The Bunche-Da Vinci Learning Partnership Academy, an elementary school located between an urban port city and a historically…

The UK Government's global partnership programme - Its achievements over the past five years and challenges ahead

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heyes, Alan

2007-01-01

Through the Global Partnership the UK continues to make a significant contribution to improve national and global security. Over the past year the UK has continued to implement a wide range of projects across the breadth of its Global Partnership Programme. As well as ensuring the Programme is robust and capable of dealing with new challenges, the UK has cooperated with other donor countries to help them progress projects associated with submarine dismantling, scientist redirection, enhancing nuclear security and Chemical Weapons Destruction. The Global Partnership, although only five years old, has already achieved a great deal. Some 23 states, plus the European Union, are now working closer together under the Global Partnership, and collectively have enhanced global regional and national security by reducing the availability of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) materials and expertise to both states of concern and terrorists. Considerable progress has already been made in, for example: - Improving the security of fissile materials, dangerous biological agents and chemical weapons stocks; - Reducing the number of sites containing radioactive materials; - Working towards closure of reactors still producing weapon-grade plutonium; - Improving nuclear safety to reduce the risks of further, Chernobyl style accidents; - Constructing facilities for destroying Chemical Weapons stocks, and starting actual destruction; - Providing sustainable employment for former WMD scientists to reduce the risk that their expertise will be misused by states or terrorists. By contributing to many of these activities, the UK has helped to make the world safer. This paper reports on the UK's practical and sustainable contribution to the Global Partnership and identifies a number of challenges that remain if it is to have a wider impact on reducing the threats from WMD material. (authors)

A Robust Pre-Filter and Power Loading Design for Time Reversal UWB Systems over Time-Correlated MIMO Channels

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sajjad Alizadeh

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Conventional Time Reversal (TR technique suffers from performance degradation in time varying Multiple-Input Multiple-Output Ultra-Wideband (MIMO-UWB systems due to outdating Channel State Information (CSI over time progressions. That is, the outdated CSI degrades the TR performance significantly in time varying channels. The correlation property of time correlated channels can improve the TR performance against other traditional TR designs. Based on this property, at first, we propose a robust TR-MIMO-UWB system design for a time-varying channel in which the CSI is updated only at the beginning of each block of data where the CSI is assumed to be known. As the channel varies over time, pre-processor blindly pre-equalizes the channel during the next symbol time by using the correlation property. Then, a novel recursive power allocation strategy is derived over time-correlated time-varying TR-MIMO-UWB channels. We show that the proposed power loading technique, considerably improves the BER performance of TR-MIMO-UWB system in imperfect CSI with robust pre-filter. The proposed algorithms lead to a cost-efficient CSI updating procedure for the TR optimization. Simulation results are provided to confirm the new design performance against traditional method.

Designing a Healthy Food Partnership: lessons from the Australian Food and Health Dialogue.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Alexandra; Magnusson, Roger; Swinburn, Boyd; Webster, Jacqui; Wood, Amanda; Sacks, Gary; Neal, Bruce

2016-07-27

Poor diets are a leading cause of disease burden worldwide. In Australia, the Federal Government established the Food and Health Dialogue (the Dialogue) in 2009 to address this issue, primarily through food reformulation. We evaluated the Dialogue's performance over its 6 years of operation and used these findings to develop recommendations for the success of the new Healthy Food Partnership. We used information from the Dialogue website, media releases, communiqués, e-newsletters, materials released under freedom-of-information, and Parliamentary Hansard to evaluate the Dialogue's achievements from October 2013 to November 2015, using the RE-AIM (reach, efficacy, adoption, implementation and maintenance) framework. We also engaged closely with two former Dialogue members. Our findings update a prior assessment done in October 2013. Little data is available to evaluate the Dialogue's recent achievements, with no information about progress against milestones released since October 2013. In the last 2 years, only one additional set of sodium reduction targets (cheese) was agreed and Quick Service Restaurant foods were added as an area for action. Some activity was identified in 12 of a possible 137 (9 %) areas of action within the Dialogue's mandate. Independent evaluation found targets were partially achieved in some food categories, with substantial variation in success between companies. No effects on the knowledge, behaviours or nutrient intake of the Australian population or evidence of impact on diet-related disease could be identified. The new Healthy Food Partnership has similar goals to the Dialogue. While highly laudable and recognised globally as cost-effective, the mechanism for delivery in Australia has been woefully inadequate. Strong government leadership, adequate funding, clear targets and timelines, management of conflict of interest, comprehensive monitoring and evaluation, and a plan for responsive regulation in the event of missed milestones

Partnership model of vocational education with the business sector in civil engineering expertise program of Vocational Secondary Schools

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I Kadek Budi Sandika

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This study aims to: (1 develop a partnership model of vocational education with business sectors in civil engineering expertise program of vocational secondary schools in Bali and (2testing the effectiveness and efficiency of partnership model developed. The study used the design and development model of Richey & Klein (2009, which consists of three main phases, namely the phase of model development, model validation, and model testing. The phase of model development used the qualitative approach, through literature review, observation and interview. Expert review techniques were used in the model validation phase. The model testing used pre-experimental design with one-shot case study. The study found that the partnership model of vocational education with the business sector in civil engineering expertise program of vocational secondary schools in Bali involves several components, such as key stakeholders, the underlying principle of partnership, orientation/common goal, the management of educational resources (teachers and facilities, curriculum development, implementation of learning/training and work practices, competency test of graduates, distribution of learning outcomes/output, as well as monitoring, evaluation and feedback of partnership program. Experimental results show that the partnership model developed has met all of the criteria (effective, practical and efficient.

Elements of a strong and healthy interagency partnership

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boucher, Laurel

2013-01-01

In an era of budget cuts and declining resources, an increased need exists for government agencies to develop formal and informal partnerships. Such partnerships are a means through which government agencies can use their resources to accomplish together what they cannot accomplish on their own. Interagency partnerships may involve multiple government agencies, private contractors, national laboratories, technology developers, public representatives, and other stakeholders. Four elements of strong and healthy interagency partnerships are presented as well as three needs that must be satisfied for the partnership to last. A diagnostic tool to measure the strength of these building blocks within an existing partnership is provided. Tools, techniques, and templates to develop these fundamental elements within a new partnership or to strengthen those within an already existing partnership are presented. This includes a comprehensive template for a partnership agreement along with practical suggestions as membership, operations, and decisions-making. (authors)

Institutional framework of public-private partnership development in Russia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elena Nikolaevna Sidorova

2011-09-01

Full Text Available The authors proceed from the thesis that the interaction between business and government is essential for the development of each state. This paper investigates the institutional framework of public-private partnership (PPP in the Russian Federation. Based on the assessment of regulations functioning in Russia, it is concluded that, despite a number of legislative acts designed to regulate the scope of partnerships between the public and the private sector, due to the limited range of the issues and the lack of essential problems range studied, the question of legislative support to the PPP is not resolved. The role of public institutions in the development of interaction between government and business is shown. Based on the analysis of a large factual material, the institutions of PPP development are evaluated: the Investment Fund of the Russian Federation, state corporations, venture innovation funds and special economic zones. This paper states that for each country and region it is essential to identify the priority sectors of public-private partnership.

Supplier Partnership Strategy and Global Competitiveness: A Case of Samsung Electronics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jangwoo Lee

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Samsung Group has accelerated its management innovation process, following the announcement of ‘New Management’ by the CEO Lee Kun-Hee. Particular attention must be paid to the smart-phone business of Samsung Electronics, which is the core company of the Samsung Group. In 2009, as Apple entered into the Korean market, the domestic smart-phone market faced the so called ‘Apple Shock’ due to its choice of a monopolistic and closed operating system. In response, Samsung Electronics introduced the innovative Galaxy series, replacing the old model of Omnia series. This move reaped dramatic success by dominating the world smart-phone market. Samsung Electronics ranked first in the 2012 world smart-phone market, and in 2013 it sold over 300 million devices for the first time in history, thereby solidifying the number one spot with a market share of 32.3%. Samsung Electronics’ achievement in its management innovation process was successful, due to its internal innovation and its partnership with sub-suppliers. Samsung Electronics strengthened its supplier partnership strategy, which in turn, led to an internalization of subparts assembly and process technology. By conducting the final assembly process on its own, it established the global supply chain that accompanies a high level of efficiency and operational elasticity. Samsung Electronics successfully systemized several hundred suppliers into an effective partnership and created an eco system where cooperation and competition can co-exist in its supply chain network. In sum, Samsung Electronics has successfully created the Samsung Production System that brings an economy of scale and allows prompt response. On the other hand, Apple did not get involved with subparts production, besides design and product design. This research identifies the effectiveness of Samsung Electronics’ supplier partnerships in its global competitiveness by examining characteristics of supplier partnership

Analysis of combinatorial regulation: scaling of partnerships between regulators with the number of governed targets.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nitin Bhardwaj

2010-05-01

Full Text Available Through combinatorial regulation, regulators partner with each other to control common targets and this allows a small number of regulators to govern many targets. One interesting question is that given this combinatorial regulation, how does the number of regulators scale with the number of targets? Here, we address this question by building and analyzing co-regulation (co-transcription and co-phosphorylation networks that describe partnerships between regulators controlling common genes. We carry out analyses across five diverse species: Escherichia coli to human. These reveal many properties of partnership networks, such as the absence of a classical power-law degree distribution despite the existence of nodes with many partners. We also find that the number of co-regulatory partnerships follows an exponential saturation curve in relation to the number of targets. (For E. coli and Bacillus subtilis, only the beginning linear part of this curve is evident due to arrangement of genes into operons. To gain intuition into the saturation process, we relate the biological regulation to more commonplace social contexts where a small number of individuals can form an intricate web of connections on the internet. Indeed, we find that the size of partnership networks saturates even as the complexity of their output increases. We also present a variety of models to account for the saturation phenomenon. In particular, we develop a simple analytical model to show how new partnerships are acquired with an increasing number of target genes; with certain assumptions, it reproduces the observed saturation. Then, we build a more general simulation of network growth and find agreement with a wide range of real networks. Finally, we perform various down-sampling calculations on the observed data to illustrate the robustness of our conclusions.

Partnership Selection Involving Mixed Types of Uncertain Preferences

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li-Ching Ma

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Partnership selection is an important issue in management science. This study proposes a general model based on mixed integer programming and goal-programming analytic hierarchy process (GP-AHP to solve partnership selection problems involving mixed types of uncertain or inconsistent preferences. The proposed approach is designed to deal with crisp, interval, step, fuzzy, or mixed comparison preferences, derive crisp priorities, and improve multiple solution problems. The degree of fulfillment of a decision maker’s preferences is also taken into account. The results show that the proposed approach keeps more solution ratios within the given preferred intervals and yields less deviation. In addition, the proposed approach can treat incomplete preference matrices with flexibility in reducing the number of pairwise comparisons required and can also be conveniently developed into a decision support system.

Design of Nonlinear Robust Rotor Current Controller for DFIG Based on Terminal Sliding Mode Control and Extended State Observer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guowei Cai

2014-01-01

Full Text Available As to strong nonlinearity of doubly fed induction generators (DFIG and uncertainty of its model, a novel rotor current controller with nonlinearity and robustness is proposed to enhance fault ride-though (FRT capacities of grid-connected DFIG. Firstly, the model error, external disturbances, and the uncertain factors were estimated by constructing extended state observer (ESO so as to achieve linearization model, which is compensated dynamically from nonlinear model. And then rotor current controller of DFIG is designed by using terminal sliding mode variable structure control theory (TSMC. The controller has superior dynamic performance and strong robustness. The simulation results show that the proposed control approach is effective.

TRUST: A Successful Formal-Informal Teacher Education Partnership Designed to Improve and Promote Urban Earth Science Education

Science.gov (United States)

Sloan, H.; Drantch, K.; Steenhuis, J.

2006-12-01

We present an NSF-funded collaborative formal-informal partnership for urban Earth science teacher preparation and professional development. This model brings together The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) and Brooklyn and Lehman College of the City University of New York (CUNY) to address science-impoverished classrooms that lack highly qualified teachers by focusing on Earth science teacher certification. Project design was based on identified needs in the local communities and schools, careful analysis of content knowledge mastery required for Earth science teacher certification, and existing impediments to certification. The problem-based approach required partners to push policy envelopes and to invent new ways of articulating content and pedagogy at both intra- and inter-institutional levels. One key element of the project is involvement of the local board of education, teachers, and administrators in initial design and ongoing assessment. Project components include formal Earth systems science courses, a summer institute primarily led and delivered by AMNH scientists through an informal series of lectures coupled to workshops led by AMNH educators, a mechanism for assigning course credit for informal experiences, development of new teaching approaches that include teacher action plans and an external program of evaluation. The principal research strand of this project focuses on the resulting model for formal-informal teacher education partnership, the project's impact on participating teachers, policy issues surrounding the model and the changes required for its development and implementation, and its potential for Earth science education reform. As the grant funded portion of the project draws to a close we begin to analyze data collected over the past 3 years. Third-year findings of the project's external evaluation indicate that the problem-based approach has been highly successful, particularly its impact on participating teachers. In addition

Public-Private Partnership and Infrastructural Development in Nigerian Universities

Science.gov (United States)

Oduwaiye, R. O.; Sofoluwe, A. O.; Bello, T. O.; Durosaro, I. A.

2014-01-01

This study investigated the degree to which Public-Private Partnership (PPP) services are related to infrastructural development in Nigerian Universities. The research design used was descriptive survey method. The population for the study encompassed all the 20 universities in South-west Nigeria. Stratified random sampling was used to select 12…

Working Together: Building Successful Policy and Program Partnerships for Immigrant Integration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Els de Graauw

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Supporting and investing in the integration of immigrants and their children is critically important to US society. Successful integration contributes to the nation’s economic vitality, its civic and political health, and its cultural diversity. But although the United States has a good track record on immigrant integration, outcomes could be better. A national, coherent immigrant integration policy infrastructure is needed. This infrastructure can build on long-standing partnerships between civil society and US public institutions. Such partnerships, advanced under Republican- and Democratic-led administrations, were initially established to facilitate European immigrants’ integration in large American cities, and later extended to help refugees fleeing religious persecution and war. In the twenty-first century, we must expand this foundation by drawing on the growing activism by cities and states, new civil society initiatives, and public-private partnerships that span the country. A robust national integration policy infrastructure must be vertically integrated to include different levels of government and horizontally applied across public and private sector actors and different types of immigrant destinations. The resultant policy should leverage public-private partnerships, drawing on the energy, ideas, and work of community-based nonprofit organizations as well as the leadership and support of philanthropy, business, education, faith-based, and other institutions. A new coordinating office to facilitate interagency cooperation is needed in the executive branch; the mandate and programs of the Office of Refugee Resettlement need to be secured and where possible expanded; the outreach and coordinating role of the Office of Citizenship needs to be extended, including through a more robust grant program to community-based organizations; and Congress needs to develop legislation and appropriate funding for a comprehensive integration

Building Sustainable Capacity with University Partnerships

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, J. M.

2013-05-01

Universities can play an important role in building scientific and technical capacity by providing educational opportunities for local and regional populations in developing countries. These opportunities may be short term or long term through for example faculty exchanges, student exchanges, and collaborative teaching and research activities. As the demand for talented graduates expands in developing countries, local universities face competition for students, lecturers, and professors from the same industries and communities they serve. This competition is in many ways counterproductive to building the sustainable human resource that is needed to support local development, management, and governance. Such competition is particularly evident for top science and engineering students in energy rich countries. University partnerships, e.g., in particular those between universities in OECD countries and universities in developing countries, have an important role to play in bridging the gap between today's lack of capacity and a sustainable human resource for the future. Such university partnerships, however, face many challenges, some of which can be traced to organizational and cultural differences In this presentation, I will discuss how university partnerships are formed, some of the benefits to partners, and some pitfalls to avoid during implementation of university partnerships. The examples are taken from Stanford partnerships that involve geoscience and engineering, and will include representative goals and content of the example partnerships. These partnerships I'll describe are actually trilateral, with partners from two or more universities and a private company or government agency. I conclude the presentation with a brief discussion on multiculturalism, perhaps the most important consideration when planning a partnership between diverse organizations. Organizers of partnerships must recognize the fact that multiculturalism and diversity are assets that

The Developmental Stages of a Community–University Partnership

Science.gov (United States)

Allen, Michele L.; Svetaz, María Veronica; Hurtado, G. Ali; Linares, Roxana; Garcia-Huidobro, Diego; Hurtado, Monica

2013-01-01

Background: Strong and sustained community–university partnerships are necessary for community-based participatory translational research. Little attention has been paid to understanding the trajectory of research partnerships from a developmental perspective. Objective: To propose a framework describing partnership development and maturation based on Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development and describe how our collaboration is moving through those stages. Methods: Collaborators engaged in three rounds of iterative reflection regarding characteristics and contributors to the maturation of the Padres Informados/Jovenes Preparados (Informed Parents/Prepared Youth [PI/JP]) partnership. Lessons Learned: Each stage is characterized by broad developmental partnership tasks. Conflict or tension within the partnership is often a part of achieving the associated tasks. The strengths developed at each stage prepare the partnership for challenges associated with subsequent stages. Conclusions: This framework could provide a means for partnerships to reflect on their strengths and challenges at a given time point, and to help understand why some partnerships fail whereas others achieve maturity. PMID:24056509

Robust distributed cognitive relay beamforming

KAUST Repository

Pandarakkottilil, Ubaidulla

2012-05-01

In this paper, we present a distributed relay beamformer design for a cognitive radio network in which a cognitive (or secondary) transmit node communicates with a secondary receive node assisted by a set of cognitive non-regenerative relays. The secondary nodes share the spectrum with a licensed primary user (PU) node, and each node is assumed to be equipped with a single transmit/receive antenna. The interference to the PU resulting from the transmission from the cognitive nodes is kept below a specified limit. The proposed robust cognitive relay beamformer design seeks to minimize the total relay transmit power while ensuring that the transceiver signal-to-interference- plus-noise ratio and PU interference constraints are satisfied. The proposed design takes into account a parameter of the error in the channel state information (CSI) to render the performance of the beamformer robust in the presence of imperfect CSI. Though the original problem is non-convex, we show that the proposed design can be reformulated as a tractable convex optimization problem that can be solved efficiently. Numerical results are provided and illustrate the performance of the proposed designs for different network operating conditions and parameters. © 2012 IEEE.

An exploration of inter-organisational partnership assessment tools in the context of Australian Aboriginal-mainstream partnerships: a scoping review of the literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsou, Christina; Haynes, Emma; Warner, Wayne D; Gray, Gordon; Thompson, Sandra C

2015-04-23

The need for better partnerships between Aboriginal organisations and mainstream agencies demands attention on process and relational elements of these partnerships, and improving partnership functioning through transformative or iterative evaluation procedures. This paper presents the findings of a literature review which examines the usefulness of existing partnership tools to the Australian Aboriginal-mainstream partnership (AMP) context. Three sets of best practice principles for successful AMP were selected based on authors' knowledge and experience. Items in each set of principles were separated into process and relational elements and used to guide the analysis of partnership assessment tools. The review and analysis of partnership assessment tools were conducted in three distinct but related parts. Part 1- identify and select reviews of partnership tools; part 2 - identify and select partnership self-assessment tool; part 3 - analysis of selected tools using AMP principles. The focus on relational and process elements in the partnership tools reviewed is consistent with the focus of Australian AMP principles by reconciliation advocates; however, historical context, lived experience, cultural context and approaches of Australian Aboriginal people represent key deficiencies in the tools reviewed. The overall assessment indicated that the New York Partnership Self-Assessment Tool and the VicHealth Partnership Analysis Tools reflect the greatest number of AMP principles followed by the Nuffield Partnership Assessment Tool. The New York PSAT has the strongest alignment with the relational elements while VicHealth and Nuffield tools showed greatest alignment with the process elements in the chosen AMP principles. Partnership tools offer opportunities for providing evidence based support to partnership development. The multiplicity of tools in existence and the reported uniqueness of each partnership, mean the development of a generic partnership analysis for AMP

Exploring Universal Partnerships and Putative Marriages as Tools for Awarding Partnership Property in Contemporary Family Law

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elsje Bonthuys

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Following upon the Supreme Court of Appeal's judgment in Butters v Mncora 2012 4 SA 1 (SCA, which broadened the criteria and consequences of universal partnerships in cohabitation relationships, this article investigates the potential of universal partnerships and putative marriages to allocate rights to share in partnership property in other intimate relationships. It traverses several instances in which marriages are not recognised - bigamous marriages, Muslim and Hindu religious marriages and invalid customary marriages – examining whether the wives in these marriages could use universal partnerships and putative marriages to claim a share in property. It then considers the use of universal partnerships to obtain a share of property in civil marriages out of community of property. It concludes by pointing out several issues which are in need of clarification and where the common law should be developed to give effect to fundamental constitutional rights.

Care Partnerships: Toward Technology to Support Teens’ Participation in Their Health Care

Science.gov (United States)

Hong, Matthew K.; Wilcox, Lauren; Machado, Daniel; Olson, Thomas A.; Simoneaux, Stephen F.

2016-01-01

Adolescents with complex chronic illnesses, such as cancer and blood disorders, must partner with family and clinical caregivers to navigate risky procedures with life-altering implications, burdensome symptoms and lifelong treatments. Yet, there has been little investigation into how technology can support these partnerships. We conducted 38 in-depth interviews (15 with teenage adolescents with chronic forms of cancer and blood disorders, 15 with their parents, and eight with clinical caregivers) along with nine non-participant observations of clinical consultations to better understand common challenges and needs that could be supported through design. Participants faced challenges primarily concerning: 1) teens’ limited participation in their care, 2) communicating emotionally-sensitive information, and 3) managing physical and emotional responses. We draw on these findings to propose design goals for sociotechnical systems to support teens in partnering in their care, highlighting the need for design to support gradually evolving partnerships in care. PMID:28164178

DESIGN OF ROBUST COMMAND TO LINE-OF-SIGHT GUIDANCE LAW: A FUZZY ADAPTIVE APPROACH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ESMAIL SADEGHINASAB

2016-11-01

Full Text Available In this paper, the design of command to line-of-sight (CLOS missile guidance law is addressed. Taking a three dimensional guidance model, the tracking control problem is formulated. To solve the target tracking problem, the feedback linearization controller is first designed. Although such control scheme possesses the simplicity property, but it presents the acceptable performance only in the absence of perturbations. In order to ensure the robustness properties against model uncertainties, a fuzzy adaptive algorithm is proposed with two parts including a fuzzy (Mamdani system, whose rules are constructed based on missile guidance, and a so-called rule modifier to compensate the fuzzy rules, using the negative gradient method. Compared with some previous works, such control strategy provides a faster time response without large control efforts. The performance of feedback linearization controller is also compared with that of fuzzy adaptive strategy via various simulations.

Partnerships for development: municipal solid waste management in Kasese, Uganda.

Science.gov (United States)

Christensen, David; Drysdale, David; Hansen, Kenneth; Vanhille, Josefine; Wolf, Andreas

2014-11-01

Municipal solid waste management systems of many developing countries are commonly constrained by factors such as limited financial resources and poor governance, making it a difficult proposition to break with complex, entrenched and unsustainable technologies and systems. This article highlights strategic partnerships as a way to affect a distributed agency among several sets of stakeholders to break so-called path dependencies, which occur when such unsustainable pathways arise, stabilize and become self-reinforcing over time. Experiences from a North-South collaborative effort provide some lessons in such partnership building: In Uganda and Denmark, respectively, the World Wildlife Fund and the network organization access2innovation have mobilized stakeholders around improving the municipal solid waste management system in Kasese District. Through a municipal solid waste management system characterization and mapping exercise, some emergent lessons and guiding principles in partnership building point to both pitfalls and opportunities for designing sustainable pathways. First, socio-technical lock-in effects in the municipal solid waste management system can stand in the way of partnerships based on introducing biogas or incineration technologies. However, opportunities in the municipal solid waste management system can exist within other areas, and synergies can be sought with interlinking systems, such as those represented with sanitation. © The Author(s) 2014.

A Competitive Partnership Formation Process

OpenAIRE

Andersson, Tommy; Gudmundsson, Jens; Talman, Adolphus; Yang, Zaifu

2013-01-01

A group of heterogeneous agents may form partnerships in pairs. All single agents as well as all partnerships generate values. If two agents choose to cooperate, they need to specify how to split their joint value among one another. In equilibrium, which may or may not exist, no agents have incentives to break up or form new partnerships. This paper proposes a dynamic competitive adjustment process that always either finds an equilibrium or exclusively disproves the existence of any equilibri...

Robust environmental closed-loop supply chain design under uncertainty

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

MA, Ruimin; YAO, Lifei; JIN, Maozhu; REN, Peiyu; LV, Zhihan

2016-01-01

With the fast developments in product remanufacturing to improve economic and environmental performance, an environmental closed-loop supply (ECLSC) chain is important for enterprises' competitiveness. In this paper, a robust ECLSC network is investigated which includes multiple plants, collection centers, demand zones, and products, and consists of both forward and reverse supply chains. First, a robust multi-objective mixed integer nonlinear programming model is proposed to deal with ECLSC considering two conflicting objectives simultaneously, as well as the uncertain nature of the supply chain. Cost parameters of the supply chain and demand fluctuations are subject to uncertainty. The first objective function aims to minimize the economical cost and the second objective function is to minimize the environmental influence. Then, the proposed model is solved as a single-objective mixed integer programming model applying the LP-metrics method. Finally, numerical example has been presented to test the model. The results indicate that the proposed model is applicable in practice.

Innovation in Collaboration: The Summer Institute on Youth Mentoring as a university-community partnership

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kevin R. Jones

2011-11-01

Full Text Available The Summer Institute on Youth Mentoring (SIYM at Portland State University is an intensive week-long seminar designed to offer a highly interactive educational opportunity for experienced professionals and leading researchers in the field of youth mentoring. The current study explores the extent to which SIYM represents an example of a successful university-community partnership and identifies ways in which SIYM innovates on established partnership models. Using grounded theory methods and typological analysis, the researchers analysed questionnaire responses from SIYM participants and research fellows to compare key characteristics of SIYM with the elements of effective partnerships described in the literature. Findings suggest that SIYM reflects many essential partnership qualities, including the presence of a shared vision; strong, mutually beneficial relationships; and a partnering process that includes communication and work for positive change. SIYM also introduces several innovations in format and structure that could inform the improvement or development of effective partnership efforts across disciplines. Implications for service providers, researchers and other stakeholders are discussed. Keywords communication, collaboration, mutually beneficial relationships, innovation

Robust and Energy-Efficient Ultra-Low-Voltage Circuit Design under Timing Constraints in 65/45 nm CMOS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Bol

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Ultra-low-voltage operation improves energy efficiency of logic circuits by a factor of 10×, at the expense of speed, which is acceptable for applications with low-to-medium performance requirements such as RFID, biomedical devices and wireless sensors. However, in 65/45 nm CMOS, variability and short-channel effects significantly harm robustness and timing closure of ultra-low-voltage circuits by reducing noise margins and jeopardizing gate delays. The consequent guardband on the supply voltage to meet a reasonable manufacturing yield potentially ruins energy efficiency. Moreover, high leakage currents in these technologies degrade energy efficiency in case of long stand-by periods. In this paper, we review recently published techniques to design robust and energy-efficient ultra-low-voltage circuits in 65/45 nm CMOS under relaxed yet strict timing constraints.

Estimating temporary emigration and breeding proportions using capture-recapture data with Pollock's robust design

Science.gov (United States)

Kendall, W.L.; Nichols, J.D.; Hines, J.E.

1997-01-01

Statistical inference for capture-recapture studies of open animal populations typically relies on the assumption that all emigration from the studied population is permanent. However, there are many instances in which this assumption is unlikely to be met. We define two general models for the process of temporary emigration, completely random and Markovian. We then consider effects of these two types of temporary emigration on Jolly-Seber (Seber 1982) estimators and on estimators arising from the full-likelihood approach of Kendall et al. (1995) to robust design data. Capture-recapture data arising from Pollock's (1982) robust design provide the basis for obtaining unbiased estimates of demographic parameters in the presence of temporary emigration and for estimating the probability of temporary emigration. We present a likelihood-based approach to dealing with temporary emigration that permits estimation under different models of temporary emigration and yields tests for completely random and Markovian emigration. In addition, we use the relationship between capture probability estimates based on closed and open models under completely random temporary emigration to derive three ad hoc estimators for the probability of temporary emigration, two of which should be especially useful in situations where capture probabilities are heterogeneous among individual animals. Ad hoc and full-likelihood estimators are illustrated for small mammal capture-recapture data sets. We believe that these models and estimators will be useful for testing hypotheses about the process of temporary emigration, for estimating demographic parameters in the presence of temporary emigration, and for estimating probabilities of temporary emigration. These latter estimates are frequently of ecological interest as indicators of animal movement and, in some sampling situations, as direct estimates of breeding probabilities and proportions.

Robust EM Continual Reassessment Method in Oncology Dose Finding

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Ying; Yin, Guosheng

2012-01-01

The continual reassessment method (CRM) is a commonly used dose-finding design for phase I clinical trials. Practical applications of this method have been restricted by two limitations: (1) the requirement that the toxicity outcome needs to be observed shortly after the initiation of the treatment; and (2) the potential sensitivity to the prespecified toxicity probability at each dose. To overcome these limitations, we naturally treat the unobserved toxicity outcomes as missing data, and use the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm to estimate the dose toxicity probabilities based on the incomplete data to direct dose assignment. To enhance the robustness of the design, we propose prespecifying multiple sets of toxicity probabilities, each set corresponding to an individual CRM model. We carry out these multiple CRMs in parallel, across which model selection and model averaging procedures are used to make more robust inference. We evaluate the operating characteristics of the proposed robust EM-CRM designs through simulation studies and show that the proposed methods satisfactorily resolve both limitations of the CRM. Besides improving the MTD selection percentage, the new designs dramatically shorten the duration of the trial, and are robust to the prespecification of the toxicity probabilities. PMID:22375092

Learning Partnerships Between Undergraduate Biology Students and Younger Learners

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lee Abrahamsen

2009-12-01

Full Text Available In two upper-level elective biology courses and one beginning-level general biology course, college students participated in Learning Partnerships with middle or high school classes to study some aspect of biology. The goals were to enhance learning by providing resources to middle and high school students and teachers and by encouraging college students to consider teaching as a learning tool and a possible career goal. The college students designed lessons, activities, and laboratories that were done at the schools and at Bates College. Feedback and data suggest that the partnerships have helped teachers enrich their curricula, enhanced student learning, encouraged additional high school students to consider applying to college, and encouraged college students to consider teaching science.

New Partnerships for Sustainability (NEPSUS)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ponte, Stefano; Noe, Christine; Kweka, Opportuna

New and more complex partnerships are emerging to address the sustainability of natural resource use in developing countries. These partnerships variously link donors, governments, community-based organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), business, certification agencies and other...

Lessons learned about coordinating academic partnerships from an international network for health education.

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Airong; Omollo, Kathleen Ludewig

2013-11-01

There is a growing trend of academic partnerships between U.S., Canadian, and European health science institutions and academic health centers in low- and middle-income countries. These partnerships often encounter challenges such as resource disparities and power differentials, which affect the motivations, expectations, balance of benefits, and results of the joint projects. Little has been discussed in previous literature regarding the communication and project management processes that affect the success of such partnerships. To fill the gap in the literature, the authors present lessons learned from the African Health Open Educational Resources Network, a multicountry, multiorganizational partnership established in May 2008. The authors introduce the history of the network, then discuss actively engaging stakeholders throughout the project's life cycle (design, planning, execution, and closure) through professional development, relationship building, and assessment activities. They focus on communication and management practices used to identify mutually beneficial project goals, ensure timely completion of deliverables, and develop sustainable sociotechnical infrastructure for future collaborative projects. These activities yielded an interactive process of action, assessment, and reflection to ensure that project goals and values were aligned with implementation. The authors conclude with a discussion of lessons learned and how the partnership project may serve as a model for other universities and academic health centers in high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries that are interested in or currently pursuing international academic partnerships.

Corporate-Academic Partnerships: Creating a Win-Win in the Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Deeter-Schmelz, Dawn Reneé

2015-01-01

For instructors seeking ways to provide sales students with experiential learning projects designed to develop and enhance skills in an authentic environment, corporate-academic partnerships offer a viable option. The author describes a unique and innovative corporate-academic integrated project, including course content, role plays, and corporate…

27 CFR 19.188 - Partnerships.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... partnership is not terminated on death or insolvency of a partner, but continues until the winding up of the... the partnership, he shall qualify in his own name from the date of acquisition, as provided in § 19...

Robust distributed two-way relay beamforming in cognitive radio networks

KAUST Repository

Pandarakkottilil, Ubaidulla

2012-04-01

In this paper, we present distributed beamformer designs for a cognitive radio network (CRN) consisting of a pair of cognitive (or secondary) transceiver nodes communicating with each other through a set of secondary non-regenerative two-way relays. The secondary network shares the spectrum with a licensed primary user (PU), and operates under a constraint on the maximum interference to the PU, in addition to its own resource and quality of service (QoS) constraints. We propose beamformer designs assuming that the available channel state information (CSI) is imperfect, which reflects realistic scenarios. The performance of proposed designs is robust to the CSI errors. Such robustness is critical in CRNs given the difficulty in acquiring perfect CSI due to loose cooperation between the PUs and the secondary users (SUs), and the need for strict enforcement of PU interference limit. We consider a mean-square error (MSE)-constrained beamformer that minimizes the total relay transmit power and an MSE-balancing beamformer with a constraint on the total relay transmit power. We show that the proposed designs can be reformulated as convex optimization problems that can be solved efficiently. Through numerical simulations, we illustrate the improved performance of the proposed robust designs compared to non-robust designs. © 2012 IEEE.

Partnerships for clinical learning: A collaborative initiative to support medical imaging technology students and their supervisors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thompson, A.; Smythe, L.; Jones, M.

2016-01-01

Introduction: The involvement of practitioners in the teaching and supervision of medical imaging technology students is central to students' learning. This article presents an overview of a learning partnership initiative, reinforced by an online platform to support students' learning and their medical imaging technologist supervisors' (MITs) teaching within a clinical learning environment in a New Zealand context. Methodology: Data were generated through a series of fourteen collaborative action research focus group meetings with MITs and student MITs. Results: The findings revealed that a robust relationship between a student and their MIT partner gave students an ‘anchor’ for learning and a sense of belonging. The online platform supported the relationship and provided an effective means for communication between students and their MIT partners. The relationship was not one-directional as it also supported the enhancement of MITs' practice. Conclusions: The recommendations from the study suggest learning partnerships between MITs and student MITs will be valuable in supporting teaching and learning respectively. MITs need to be better supported in their teaching role to enable them to make a greater investment in students' learning. A redistribution of funding for clinical education needs to be considered to support the MITs' central role in teaching medical imaging students. - Highlights: • Learning partnerships within a clinical setting support students' learning. • An online platform can provide online support when face-to-face support is not possible. • Learning partnerships can enhance MITs' practice.

17 CFR 229.902 - (Item 902) Individual partnership supplements.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... transaction, including, but not limited to, federal income tax consequences, for investors in the partnership... partnership; (iv) Other assets held by the partnership; (v) Other liabilities of the partnership; (vi) The... partnership supplements. 229.902 Section 229.902 Commodity and Securities Exchanges SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE...

Profit enhancement by a set of performance and robustness indices based design of dual-dimensional PODC and PSS2B in smart grids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shayeghi, H.; Hashemi, Y.

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Design based on a set of performance and robustness criteria can increase profit. • Time delay as uncertainty in smart grid decrease profit. • Design method applied in this paper deal with large structure of controllers. • INSGA-II optimization and FDM method is applied to specify the best solution. - Abstract: Expansion of power systems is accompanied by innovations in smart grid solutions to power system operation and control. Profit enhancement by power oscillation damping controllers (PODC) and acceleration based power system stabilizer (PSS), model PSS2B, designed by the idea of pseudo-spectra based on multi-objective optimization is presented. The contribution of multi-objective functions in respect of performance and robustness criteria in stability enhancement is evaluated by considering the control actions of PODC and PSS2B as an ancillary service (AS). The robustness requirement is achieved by using the idea of pseudo-spectra to handle the changes of power system parameters and time delay introduced by processing of remote signals in the wide-area supplementary damping controller (WASDC). The weighted sum of six objective functions as performance and robustness criteria is selected as low-frequency oscillation damping index (LFODI). Two scenarios for the evaluation of small signal stability as an AS provided by PODC and PSS2B are considered. A multi-objective optimization approach based on LFODI, generation costs is formulated and improved non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II (INSGA-II) is employed to solve this problem. Fuzzy decision making (FDM) is used to find the best compromise solution from the set of Pareto-solution obtained by INSGA-II. Comparative analysis of the results of the conventional method and the proposed design method is presented by case study on a modified 2-area 4-machine power system

The Role of Strategic Partnerships in the Internationalisation of Small Born Global Firms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paweł Capik

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Objective: The article discusses motives driving the internationalisation of small born global firms and explores the role strategic partnerships play in the process. It argues that born globals are forced into international markets soon after their foundation due to limited domestic market capacity. Furthermore, they attempt to prevent competition on international markets and secure first mover advantages. Research Design & Methods: Based on primary data gathered in the course of interviews with founders and senior managers of British born globals operating in different industry sectors, the article offers new insights into the role of partnerships during early stages of internationalisation. Findings: The article reveals that beside serendipitous opportunities, the motivation and opportunity recognition of the founder/manager play a vital role in firms’ early internationalisation. Strategic partnerships appear to help born globals in overcoming resource constraints and their liability of newness and smallness. Also other factors, such as increasing brand recognition and the enhancement of the firm’s credibility motivate born globals to engage in strategic partnerships from an early stage. Implications & Recommendations: The research results lead to a conclusion that strategic partnerships are suitable only for a particular period of time, which begins shortly after the firm’s inception and ends when the born global firm becomes more established. Contribution & Value Added: The article provides novel understanding of the role of strategic partnerships play in the early internationalisation of born globals. Furthermore, it adds new insights into the evolution of such partnerships.