Search results for: anxiety control

Authors: Mamiko Orii

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This study reports on primary school second language teachers’ sources of language insecurity. Furthermore, it aims to develop an in-service training course to reduce anxiety and build sufficient English communication skills. Language/Linguistic insecurity refers to a lack of confidence experienced by language speakers. In particular, second language/non-native learners often experience insecurity, influencing their learning efficacy. While language learner insecurity has been well-documented, research on the insecurity of language teaching professionals is limited. Teachers’ language insecurity or anxiety in target language use may adversely affect language instruction. For example, they may avoid classroom activities requiring intensive language use. Therefore, understanding teachers’ language insecurity and providing continuing education to help teachers to improve their proficiency is vital to improve teaching quality. This study investigated Japanese primary school teachers’ language insecurity. In Japan, teachers are responsible for teaching most subjects, including English, which was recently added as compulsory. Most teachers have never been professionally trained in second language instruction during college teacher certificate preparation, leading to low confidence in English teaching. Primary source of language insecurity is a lack of confidence regarding English communication skills. Their actual use of English in classrooms remains unclear. Teachers’ classroom speech remains a neglected area requiring improvement. A more refined programme for second language teachers could be constructed if we can identify areas of need. Two questionnaires were administered to primary school teachers in Tokyo: (1) Questionnaire A: 396 teachers answered questions (using a 5-point scale) concerning classroom teaching anxiety and general English use and needs for in-service training (Summer 2021); (2) Questionnaire B: 20 teachers answered detailed questions concerning their English use (Autumn 2022). Questionnaire A’s responses showed that over 80% of teachers have significant language insecurity and anxiety, mainly when speaking English in class or teaching independently. Most teachers relied on a team-teaching partner (e.g., ALT) and avoided speaking English. Over 70% of the teachers said they would like to participate in training courses in classroom English. Questionnaire B’s results showed that teachers could use simple classroom English, such as greetings and basic instructions (e.g., stand up, repeat after me), and initiate conversation (e.g., asking questions). In contrast, teachers reported that conversations were mainly carried on in a simple question-answer style. They had difficulty continuing conversations. Responding to learners’ ‘on-the-spot’ utterances was particularly difficult. Instruction in turn-taking patterns suitable in the classroom communication context is needed. Most teachers received grammar-based instruction during their entire English education. They were predominantly exposed to displayed questions and form-focused corrective feedback. Therefore, strategies such as encouraging teachers to ask genuine questions (i.e., referential questions) and responding to students with content feedback are crucial. When learners’ utterances are incorrect or unsatisfactory, teachers should rephrase or extend (recast) them instead of offering explicit corrections. These strategies support a continuous conversational flow. These results offer benefits beyond Japan’s English as a second Language context. They will be valuable in any context where primary school teachers are underprepared but must provide English-language instruction.

Keywords: english as a second/non-native language, in-service training, primary school, teachers’ language insecurity

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Authors: Jasper Kevin C. Dionisio, Denise Mae M. Unsay

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In a manufacturing firm, controlling the process ensures that optimum efficiency, productivity, and quality in an organization are achieved. An operation with no standardized procedure yields a poor productivity, inefficiency, and an out of control process. This study focuses on controlling the small intestine processing of a chicken dressing plant through the use of Statistical Process Control (SPC). Since the operation does not employ a standard procedure and does not have an established standard time, the process through the assessment of the observed time of the overall operation of small intestine processing, through the use of X-Bar R Control Chart, is found to be out of control. In the solution of this problem, the researchers conduct a motion and time study aiming to establish a standard procedure for the operation. The normal operator was picked through the use of Westinghouse Rating System. Instead of utilizing the traditional motion and time study, the researchers used the X-Bar R Control Chart in determining the process average of the process that is used for establishing the standard time. The observed time of the normal operator was noted and plotted to the X-Bar R Control Chart. Out of control points that are due to assignable cause were removed and the process average, or the average time the normal operator conducted the process, which was already in control and free form any outliers, was obtained. The process average was then used in determining the standard time of small intestine processing. As a recommendation, the researchers suggest the implementation of the standard time established which is with consonance to the standard procedure which was adopted from the normal operator. With that recommendation, the whole operation will induce a 45.54 % increase in their productivity.

Keywords: motion and time study, process controlling, statistical process control, X-Bar R Control chart

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Authors: Tomoaki Hashimoto

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Recently, optimal control problems subject to probabilistic constraints have attracted much attention in many research field. Although probabilistic constraints are generally intractable in optimization problems, several methods haven been proposed to deal with probabilistic constraints. In most methods, probabilistic constraints are transformed to deterministic constraints that are tractable in optimization problems. This paper examines a method for transforming probabilistic constraints into deterministic constraints for a class of probabilistic constrained optimal control problems.

Keywords: optimal control, stochastic systems, discrete-time systems, probabilistic constraints

Procedia PDF Downloads 278

Authors: Hafsa Raheel

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Background: Adolescents who suffer from depression early in life, have an increase in suicidal tendency, anxiety, conduct disorders, substance abuse, and continue to be depressed, later on in life. This study was conducted to identify the prevalence and correlates of depression among adolescent girls in Riyadh city in order to carry out early intervention. Methods: A cross‑sectional, school‑based survey was conducted among 1028 adolescent girls aged 15–19 years in secondary schools of Riyadh city. Riyadh was divided into clusters and within each cluster, both public and private schools were enrolled. From the selected schools students from grade 10–12 were surveyed. Survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire including the beck depression inventory‑II, and questions exploring the correlates of depression. Results: About 30% of participants were found to be depressed. Depression was more prevalent among female adolescents whose household income was inferior to 12,000 Saudi Riyal/month (odds ratio [OR] 2.17, confidence interval [CI] 0.97–6.84), did not have a good relationship with peers and family members (OR 4.63, CI 2.56–8.41), lived with single parent or alone (OR 1.77, CI 0.97–3.23), had been emotionally abused (OR 3.45, CI 2.56–8.41), and those who had been subjected to physical violence at least once (OR 3.34, CI 1.89–5.91). Conclusions: Strategies need to be developed to identify early signs and symptoms of depression among Saudi female adolescents. Training can be given to groups of students to help their peers, and also to the teachers to identify, and help students identify early signs of depression and provide them with better‑coping strategies to combat progression of depression and anxiety among such adolescents.

Keywords: adolescents, depression, Saudi Arabia, mental health

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Authors: Mamyrbek A. Beisenbi, Nurgul M. Kissikova, Saltanat E. Beisembina, Salamat T. Suleimenova, Samal A. Kaliyeva

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The paper proposes a method for constructing a self-organizing control system for unstable and deterministic chaotic processes in the class of catastrophe “hyperbolic umbilic” for objects with m-inputs and n-outputs. The self-organizing control system is investigated by the universal gradient-velocity method of Lyapunov vector functions. The conditions for self-organization of the control system in the class of catastrophes “hyperbolic umbilic” are shown in the form of a system of algebraic inequalities that characterize the aperiodic robust stability in the stationary states of the system.

Keywords: gradient-velocity method of Lyapunov vector-functions, hyperbolic umbilic, self-organizing control system, stability

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Authors: S.Pandeeswari, Raju Padma

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In this paper a new solution to implement and control single-stage electronic ballast based on the integration of a buck-boost power factor correction stage and a half bridge resonant inverter is presented. The control signals are obtained using the inverter resonant current by means of a saturable transformer. Core saturation is used to control the required dead time between the control pulses on both switches. The turn-on time of one of the inverter switches is controlled to provide proper cathode preheating during the lamp ignition process. No special integrated circuits are required to control the ballast and the total number of components is minimized. Analysis and basic design of phase cut dimmer.

Keywords: MOSFET dimmer, PIC 16F877A, voltage regulator, bridge rectifier

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Authors: Mihai Caramihai, Dan Vasilescu

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The main research objective of the experimental bioprocess analyzed in this paper was to obtain large biomass quantities. The bioprocess is performed in 100 L Bioengineering bioreactor with 42 L cultivation medium made of peptone, meat extract and sodium chloride. The reactor was equipped with pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and agitation controllers. The operating parameters were 37 oC, 1.2 atm, 250 rpm and air flow rate of 15 L/min. The main objective of this paper is to present a case study to demonstrate that intelligent control, describing the complexity of the biological process in a qualitative and subjective manner as perceived by human operator, is an efficient control strategy for this kind of bioprocesses. In order to simulate the bioprocess evolution, an intelligent control structure, based on fuzzy logic has been designed. The specific objective is to present a fuzzy control approach, based on human expert’ rules vs. a modeling approach of the cells growth based on bioprocess experimental data. The kinetic modeling may represent only a small number of bioprocesses for overall biosystem behavior while fuzzy control system (FCS) can manipulate incomplete and uncertain information about the process assuring high control performance and provides an alternative solution to non-linear control as it is closer to the real world. Due to the high degree of non-linearity and time variance of bioprocesses, the need of control mechanism arises. BIOSIM, an original developed software package, implements such a control structure. The simulation study has showed that the fuzzy technique is quite appropriate for this non-linear, time-varying system vs. the classical control method based on a priori model.

Keywords: intelligent, control, fuzzy model, bioprocess optimization

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Authors: Yijie Wang, Tianyue Wang

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In the past two decades, there has been a great ‘piano lesson frenzy’ among Chinese middle-class families, with a large number of parents adding piano training to children’s extra-curriculum lists. Superficially, the frenzy reflects a rather ‘leisurely’ attitude: parents typically claim that pianos lessons are ‘just for fun’ and will hopefully render children’s life more exciting. However, a closer scrutiny reveals that there is great social-status anxiety hidden beneath this ‘leisurely’ surface. Based on pre-interviews of six Chinese middle-class parents who have enthusiastically signed their children up for piano lessons, several tentative analysis are made: 1. Owing to a series of historical and social factors, the Chinese middle-class have yet to establish their cultural norms in the past few decades, resulting in great confusion concerning how to cultivate cultural tastes in their offspring. And partly due to the fact that the middle-class status of the past Chinese generation is mostly self-acquired rather than inherited, parents are much less confident about their cultural resources—which require long-time accumulation—than material ones. Both factors combine to lead to a sort of blind, overcompensating enthusiasm in culture-related education, and the piano frenzy is but a demonstration. 2. The piano has been chosen to be the object of the frenzy partly because of its inherent characteristics as well as socially-constructed ones. Costly, large in size, imported from another culture and so forth, the piano has acquired the meaning of being exclusive, high-end and exotic, which renders it a token of top-tier status among Chinese people, and piano lessons for offspring have therefore become parents’ paths towards a kind of ‘symbolic elevation’. A child playing piano is an exhibition as well as psychological assurance of the families’ middle-class status. 3. A closer look at children’s piano training process reveals that there is much more anxiety than leisurely elements involved. Despite parents’ claim that ‘piano is mainly for kids to have fun,’ the whole process is evidently of a rather ‘ascetic’ nature, with the demands of diligence and senses of time urgency throughout, and techniques rather than flair or styles are emphasized. This either means that the apparent ‘piano-for-fun’ stance is unauthentic and is only other motives in disguise, or that the Chinese middle-class parents are not yet capable of shaking off the sense of anxiety even if they sincerely intend to. 4. When viewed in relation to Chinese formal school system as well as the job market at large, it can be said that by signing children up for piano lessons, parents are consciously or unconsciously seeking to prepare for, or reduce the risks of, their children’s future social mobility. In face of possible failures in the highly-crucial, highly-competitive formal school system, piano-playing as an extra-curriculum activity may be conveniently transferred into an alternative career path. Besides, in contemporary China, as the occupational structure goes through change, and the school-related certificates decline in value, aspects such as a person’s overall deportment, which can be gained or proved by piano-learning, have been gaining in significance.

Keywords: extra-curriculum activities, middle class, piano lesson frenzy, status anxiety

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Authors: Maria Ahmadnezhad, Mohammad Reza Soltanpour

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Electrohydraulic servo systems have been used in industry in a wide number of applications. Its dynamics ‎are highly nonlinear and also have large extent of model uncertainties and external disturbances. In this ‎thesis, a robust back-stepping control (RBSC) scheme is proposed to overcome the problem of ‎disturbances and system uncertainties effectively and to improve the tracking performance of EHS ‎systems. In order to implement the proposed control scheme, the system uncertainties in EHS systems ‎are considered as total leakage coefficient and effective oil volume. In addition, in order to obtain the ‎virtual controls for stabilizing system, the update rule for the system uncertainty term is induced by the ‎Lyapunov control function (LCF). To verify the performance and robustness of the proposed control ‎system, computer simulation of the proposed control system using Matlab/Simulink Software is ‎executed. From the computer simulation, it was found that the RBSC system produces the desired ‎tracking performance and has robustness to the disturbances and system uncertainties of EHS systems.‎

Keywords: electro hydraulic servo system, back-stepping control, robust back-stepping control, Lyapunov redesign

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Authors: Ali Akbar Heydari

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Control charts are an important tool of statistical quality control. Thesecharts are used to detect and eliminate unwanted special causes of variation that occurred during aperiod of time. The design and operation of control charts require the determination of three design parameters: the sample size (n), the sampling interval (h), and the width coefficient of control limits (k). Thevariable parameters (VP) x-bar controlchart is the x-barchart in which all the design parameters vary between twovalues. These values are a function of the most recent process information. In fact, in the VP x-bar chart, the position of each sample point on the chart establishes the size of the next sample and the timeof its sampling. The synthetic x-barcontrol chartwhich integrates the x-bar chart and the conforming run length (CRL) chart, provides significant improvement in terms of detection power over the basic x-bar chart for all levels of mean shifts. In this paper, we introduce the syntheticVP x-bar control chart for monitoring changes in the process mean. To determine the design parameters, we used a statistical design based on the minimum out of control average run length (ARL) criteria. The optimal chart parameters of the proposed chart are obtained using the Markov chain approach. A numerical example is also done to show the performance of the proposed chart and comparing it with the other control charts. The results show that our proposed syntheticVP x-bar controlchart perform better than the synthetic x-bar controlchart for all shift parameter values. Also, the syntheticVP x-bar controlchart perform better than the VP x-bar control chart for the moderate or large shift parameter values.

Keywords: control chart, markov chain approach, statistical design, synthetic, variable parameter

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Authors: M. R. Akshaya, Veena Rao

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Pet population in India is increasing phenomenally owing to the changes in urban lifestyle with increasing number of single professionals, single parents, delayed parenthood etc. The animal companionship as a means of reducing stress levels, deriving emotional support, and unconditional love provided by dogs are a few reasons attributed for increasing pet ownership. The consequence is the booming of the pet care products and dog care centers catering to the different requirements of rearing the pets. Dog care centers quite popular in tier 1 metros of India cater to the requirement of the dog owners providing space for the dogs in absence of the owner. However, it is often reported that the absence of the owner leads to destructive and exploratory behavior issues; the main being the anxiety disorders. In the above context, it becomes imperative for a designer to design dog boarding centers that help in reducing the separation anxiety in dogs keeping in mind the different interior design parameters. An exploratory research with focus group discussion is employed involving a group of dog owners, behaviorists, proprietors of day care as well as boarding centers, and veterinarians to understand their perception on the significance of different interior parameters of color, texture, ventilation, aroma therapy and acoustics as a means of reducing the stress levels in dogs sent to the boarding centers. The data collected is organized as thematic networks thus enabling the listing of the interior design parameters that needs to be considered in designing dog boarding centers. 

Keywords: behavioral response, design parameters, dog boarding centers, interior environment

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Authors: Atakan Aral Ormancı, Tuğçe Arslantaş, Murat Özcü

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This study presents the design and implementation of an experimental chassis-level system for various control applications. Specifically, the height level of the chassis is controlled using proportional integrated derivative, fuzzy logic, and deep learning control methods. Real-time data obtained from height and pressure sensors installed in a 6x2 truck chassis, in combination with pulse-width modulation signal values, are utilized during the tests. A prototype pneumatic system of a 6x2 truck is added to the setup, which enables the Smart Pneumatic Actuators to function as if they were in a real-world setting. To obtain real-time signal data from height sensors, an Arduino Nano is utilized, while a Raspberry Pi processes the data using Matlab/Simulink and provides the correct output signals to control the Smart Pneumatic Actuator in the truck chassis. The objective of this research is to optimize the time it takes for the chassis to level down and up under various loads. To achieve this, proportional integrated derivative control, fuzzy logic control, and deep learning techniques are applied to the system. The results show that the deep learning method is superior in optimizing time for a non-linear system. Fuzzy logic control with a triangular membership function as the rule base achieves better outcomes than proportional integrated derivative control. Traditional proportional integrated derivative control improves the time it takes to level the chassis down and up compared to an uncontrolled system. The findings highlight the superiority of deep learning techniques in optimizing the time for a non-linear system, and the potential of fuzzy logic control. The proposed approach and the experimental results provide a valuable contribution to the field of control, automation, and systems engineering.

Keywords: automotive, chassis level control, control systems, pneumatic system control

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Authors: Francys Souza, Alberto Ohashi, Dorival Leao

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We present a general solution for finding the ε-optimal controls for non-Markovian stochastic systems as stochastic differential equations driven by Brownian motion, which is a problem recognized as a difficult solution. The contribution appears in the development of mathematical tools to deal with modeling and control of non-Markovian systems, whose applicability in different areas is well known. The methodology used consists to discretize the problem through a random discretization. In this way, we transform an infinite dimensional problem in a finite dimensional, thereafter we use measurable selection arguments, to find a control on an explicit form for the discretized problem. Then, we prove the control found for the discretized problem is a ε-optimal control for the original problem. Our theory provides a concrete description of a rather general class, among the principals, we can highlight financial problems such as portfolio control, hedging, super-hedging, pairs-trading and others. Therefore, our main contribution is the development of a tool to explicitly the ε-optimal control for non-Markovian stochastic systems. The pathwise analysis was made through a random discretization jointly with measurable selection arguments, has provided us with a structure to transform an infinite dimensional problem into a finite dimensional. The theory is applied to stochastic control problems based on path-dependent stochastic differential equations, where both drift and diffusion components are controlled. We are able to explicitly show optimal control with our method.

Keywords: dynamic programming equation, optimal control, stochastic control, stochastic differential equation

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Authors: L. Benaaouinate, M. Khafallah, A. Martinez, A. Mesbahi, T. Bouragba

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This paper concerns with the modeling, simulation, and emulation of a wind turbine emulator for standalone wind energy conversion systems. By using emulation system, we aim to reproduce the dynamic behavior of the wind turbine torque on the generator shaft: it provides the testing facilities to optimize generator control strategies in a controlled environment, without reliance on natural resources. The aerodynamic, mechanical, electrical models have been detailed as well as the control of pitch angle using Fuzzy Logic for horizontal axis wind turbines. The wind turbine emulator consists mainly of an induction motor with AC power drive with torque control. The control of the induction motor and the mathematical models of the wind turbine are designed with MATLAB/Simulink environment. The simulation results confirm the effectiveness of the induction motor control system and the functionality of the wind turbine emulator for providing all necessary parameters of the wind turbine system such as wind speed, output torque, power coefficient and tip speed ratio. The findings are of direct practical relevance.

Keywords: electrical generator, induction motor drive, modeling, pitch angle control, real time control, renewable energy, wind turbine, wind turbine emulator

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Authors: Hung-Jiun Chi, Cheng-En Tsai, Jia-Ying Tu

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Semi-active control of Magnetorheological (MR) dampers for vibration reduction of structural systems has received considerable attention in civil and earthquake engineering, because the effective stiffness and damping properties of MR fluid can change in a very short time in reaction to external loading, requiring only a low level of power. However, the inherent nonlinear dynamics of hysteresis raise challenges in the modeling and control processes. In order to control the MR damper, an innovative Duffing-like equation is proposed to approximate the hysteresis dynamics in a deterministic and systematic manner than previously has been possible. Then, the model-reference adaptive control technique based on the Duffing-like model and the Lyapunov method is discussed. Parameter identification work with experimental data is presented to show the effectiveness of the Duffing-like model. In addition, simulation results show that the resulting adaptive gains enable the MR damper force to track the desired response of the reference model satisfactorily, verifying the effectiveness of the proposed modeling and control techniques.

Keywords: magnetorheological damper, duffing equation, model-reference adaptive control, Lyapunov function, hysteresis

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Authors: M. P. Nanda Kumar, K. Dheeraj

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The design of a feedback controller, so as to minimize a given performance criterion, for a general non-linear dynamical system is difficult; if not impossible. But for a large class of non-linear dynamical systems, the open loop control that minimizes a performance criterion can be obtained using calculus of variations and Pontryagin’s minimum principle. In this paper, the open loop optimal trajectories, that minimizes a given performance measure, is used to train the neural network whose inputs are state variables of non-linear dynamical systems and the open loop optimal control as the desired output. This trained neural network is used as the feedback controller. In other words, attempts are made here to solve the “inverse optimal control problem” by using the state and control trajectories that are optimal in an open loop sense.

Keywords: inverse optimal control, radial basis function, neural network, controller design

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Authors: Xizhen Zhou, Yanjie Ji

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In advancing the management of integrated electric vehicle (EV) parking-charging behaviors, this study uses Changshu City in Suzhou as a case study to establish a data association mechanism for parking-charging platforms and to develop a database for EV parking-charging behaviors. Key indicators, such as charging start time, initial state of charge, final state of charge, and parking-charging time difference, are considered. Utilizing the K-S test method, the paper examines the heterogeneity of parking-charging behavior preferences among pure EV and non-pure EV users. The K-means clustering method is employed to analyze the characteristics of parking-charging behaviors for both user groups, thereby enhancing the overall understanding of these behaviors. The findings of this study reveal that using a classification model, the parking-charging behaviors of pure EVs can be classified into five distinct groups, while those of non-pure EVs can be separated into four groups. Among them, both types of EV users exhibit groups with low range anxiety for complete charging with special journeys, complete charging at destination, and partial charging. Additionally, both types have a group with high range anxiety, characterized by pure EV users displaying a preference for complete charging with specific journeys, while non-pure EV users exhibit a preference for complete charging. Notably, pure EV users also display a significant group engaging in nocturnal complete charging. The findings of this study can provide technical support for the scientific and rational layout and management of integrated parking and charging facilities for EVs.

Keywords: traffic engineering, potential preferences, cluster analysis, EV, parking-charging behavior

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Authors: Dechrit Maneetham

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The aim of this paper was to design a smart electric power wheelchair (SEPW) with a novel control system for quadriplegics with head and neck mobility. Head movement has been used as a control interface for people with motor impairments in a range of applications. Acquiring measurements from the module is simplified through a synchronous a motor. Axis measures the two directions namely X ,Y and Z. The model of a DC motor is considered as a speed control by selection of a PID parameters using genetic algorithm. An experimental set-up constructed, which consists of micro controller Arduino ATmega32u4 as controllers, a DC motor driven SEPW and feedback elements. And this paper is tuning methods of parameter for a pulse width modulation (PWM) control system. A speed controller has been designed successfully for closed loop of the DC motor so that the motor runs very closed to the reference speed and angle. SEPW controller can be used to ensure the person’s head is attending the direction of travel asserted by a conventional, direction and speed control.

Keywords: wheelchair, quadriplegia, rehabilitation, medical devices, speed control

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Authors: Najma Najam, Rukhsana Kausar, Rabia Hussain Kanwal, Saira Batool, Anum Javed

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In Pakistan, elderly population though increasing but it has been neglected by the researchers and policy makers which resulted in compromised quality of life of the ageing population. Two regions, Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) were selected for comparison as Lahore and Multan (Punjab) are highly urbanized, large cities whereas Gilgit and Skardu are remote and mountain bounded valleys in GB. This study focuses on psychological and emotional functioning of elderly and a series of measures translated and adapted in Urdu language was used to assess quality of life, psychological and mental well-being, actual and perceived social support, attachment patterns, forgiveness, affects, geriatric depression, and emotional disturbance patterns (depression, anxiety, and stress) in elderly. A gender-equated sample of 201 elderly participants, 93 from GB (60 from Gilgit, 33 from Skardu) and 108 from Punjab (61 from Lahore, 47 from Multan) with over 60 years age was collected from the multiethnic community of Punjab and GB through purposive convenient sampling technique. Findings revealed that elderly from Multan have better psychological and emotional functioning, higher levels of social support, tendency to forgive, better mental wellbeing and quality of life and lower levels of stress, anxiety, depression, negative affect and attachment avoidance and anxiety related to partner as compared to the elderly from Lahore. Furthermore, both elderly male of Gilgit & Skardu have adequate mental well-being including subjective well-being and psychological functioning which showed positive aspects of mental health but elderly female are more attached to their home and neighbourhood which shows their social and environmental mastery. Gilgiti elderly male reported more degree of positive affect such as enthusiasm, active, alertness, excitement and strong whereas among elderly from Skardu shows more negative affect i.e. aversive mood states, irritability, hostility, and general distress. The need of psychosocial therapy and family counseling for the elderly in urban areas has been identified, which can facilitate in reducing or preventing the depressive and stressful tendencies. The findings are expected to have implications for improving quality of life of the elderly, designing interventions, support system and rehabilitation services to help them. However, findings may attract attention of policy makers and researchers as currently this is the most neglected population in Pakistan.

Keywords: psychological, emotional, aging, elderly, quality of life

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Authors: S. A. Alotaibi, M. A. Al-Ajmi

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This work introduces a new concept for controlling the mechanical vibrations via variable stiffness coil spring. The concept relies on fitting a screw though the spring to change the number of active spring coils. A prototype has been built and tested with promising results toward an innovation in the field of vibration control.

Keywords: variable stiffness, coil spring, vibration control, computer science

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Authors: Chih-Jer Lin, Chun-Ying Lee, Ying Liu, Chiang-Ho Cheng

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The main objective of this article is to present the semi-active vibration control using an electro-rheological fluid embedded sandwich structure for a cantilever beam. ER fluid is a smart material, which cause the suspended particles polarize and connect each other to form chain. The stiffness and damping coefficients of the ER fluid can be changed in 10 micro seconds; therefore, ERF is suitable to become the material embedded in the tunable vibration absorber to become a smart absorber. For the ERF smart material embedded structure, the fuzzy control law depends on the experimental expert database and the proposed self-tuning strategy. The electric field is controlled by a CRIO embedded system to implement the real application. This study investigates the different performances using the Type-1 fuzzy and interval Type-2 fuzzy controllers. The Interval type-2 fuzzy control is used to improve the modeling uncertainties for this ERF embedded shock absorber. The self-tuning vibration controllers using Type-1 and Interval Type-2 fuzzy law are implemented to the shock absorber system. Based on the resulting performance, Internal Type-2 fuzzy is better than the traditional Type-1 fuzzy control for this vibration control system.

Keywords: electro-rheological fluid, semi-active vibration control, shock absorber, type 2 fuzzy control

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Authors: Cao Yuping, Li Longfei, Zhao Xingfu, Zhang Yalin

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Purpose: This study examined the effects of exposure to domestic physical violence (DPV) on children’s behavior in a community sample. Method: Ninety-three 12-16 year-old adolescents exposed to DPV were matched with 54 adolescents with no exposure to DPV based on age, gender, family composition and parental age and education level. Participation included assessment with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ-SF) and Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) by the adolescents and their parents respectively. Results: CBCL total score and anxiety/depression, social interaction problems, attention problems, delinquency, aggression and externalizing scores were significantly higher in adolescents exposed to DPV than those in controls (all ps<0.05).The CBCL total score and scores of anxiety/depression, social interaction problems, attention problems, delinquency, aggression and externalizing behaviors of boys were significantly higher in the research group than in the controls (all ps<0.05). Delinquency scores in abused adolescents were significantly higher than in DPV witnessed (p<0.05), but no other scores of CBCL were significant different. Different subtypes of behavioral problems were associated with different types of abuse. Conclusions: DPV exposure is associated with adverse behaviors in children, especially among boys. Children witness DPV alone have similar behavioral scores as the abused children. We recommend that both abused and DPV witness adolescents in Chinese communities need treatment to mitigate the effects on maladjusted behaviors.

Keywords: domestic violence, child, behavior, community, China

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Authors: El Miloudi Djelloul

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Based on analysis on applications by perception control technology in computer network security status and security protection measures, from the angles of network physical environment and network software system environmental security, this paper provides network security system perception control solution using Internet of Things (IOT), telecom and other perception technologies. Security Perception Control System is in the computer network environment, utilizing Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) of IOT and telecom integration technology to carry out integration design for systems. In the network physical security environment, RFID temperature, humidity, gas and perception technologies are used to do surveillance on environmental data, dynamic perception technology is used for network system security environment, user-defined security parameters, security log are used for quick data analysis, extends control on I/O interface, by development of API and AT command, Computer Network Security Perception Control based on Internet and GSM/GPRS is achieved, which enables users to carry out interactive perception and control for network security environment by WEB, E-MAIL as well as PDA, mobile phone short message and Internet. In the system testing, through middle ware server, security information data perception in real time with deviation of 3-5% was achieved; it proves the feasibility of Computer Network Security Perception Control System.

Keywords: computer network, perception control system security strategy, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

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Authors: Mohammad Javad Maghsoudi, Z. Mohamed, A. R. Husain

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Input shaping has been utilized for vibration reduction of many oscillatory systems. This paper presents an optimal closed-loop input shaping scheme for control of a three dimensional (3D) gantry crane system including. This includes a PID controller and Zero Vibration shaper which consider two control objectives concurrently. The control objectives are minimum sway of a payload and fast and accurate positioning of a trolley. A complete mathematical model of a lab-scaled 3D gantry crane is simulated in Simulink. Moreover, by utilizing PSO algorithm and a proposed scheme the controller is designed to cater both control objectives concurrently. Simulation studies on a 3D gantry crane show that the proposed optimal controller has an acceptable performance. The controller provides good position response with satisfactory payload sway in both rail and trolley responses.

Keywords: 3D gantry crane, input shaping, closed-loop control, optimal scheme, PID

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Authors: Viloria Marin Hermes, Paredes Santiago Maritza, Viloria Paredes Jonathan

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The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of Burnout syndrome in a sample of 600 professors at the University of Guayaquil (Ecuador) using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (M.B.I.). In addition, assessment was made of the effects on health from professional burnout using the General Health Questionnaire (G.H.Q.-28), and the influence of Emotional Intelligence on prevention of its symptoms using the Spanish version of the Trait Meta-Mood Scale (T.M.M.S.-24). After confirmation of the underlying factor structure, the three measurement tools showed high levels of internal consistency, and specific cut-off points were proposed for the group of Latin American academics in the M.B.I. Statistical analysis showed the syndrome is present extensively, particularly on medium levels, with notably low scores given for Professional Self-Esteem. The application of Canonical Correspondence Analysis revealed that low levels of self-esteem are related to depression, with a lack of personal resources related to anxiety and insomnia, whereas the ability to perceive and control emotions and feelings improves perceptions of professional effectiveness and performance.

Keywords: burnout, academics, emotional intelligence, general health, canonical correspondence analysis

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Authors: Yuekun Chen, Yousef Sardahi, Salam Hajjar, Christopher Greer

Abstract:

This paper presents a multi-objective optimal design of a cascade control system for an underactuated mechanical system. Cascade control structures usually include two control algorithms (inner and outer). To design such a control system properly, the following conflicting objectives should be considered at the same time: 1) the inner closed-loop control must be faster than the outer one, 2) the inner loop should fast reject any disturbance and prevent it from propagating to the outer loop, 3) the controlled system should be insensitive to measurement noise, and 4) the controlled system should be driven by optimal energy. Such a control problem can be formulated as a multi-objective optimization problem such that the optimal trade-offs among these design goals are found. To authors best knowledge, such a problem has not been studied in multi-objective settings so far. In this work, an underactuated mechanical system consisting of a rotary servo motor and a ball and beam is used for the computer simulations, the setup parameters of the inner and outer control systems are tuned by NSGA-II (Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm), and the dominancy concept is used to find the optimal design points. The solution of this problem is not a single optimal cascade control, but rather a set of optimal cascade controllers (called Pareto set) which represent the optimal trade-offs among the selected design criteria. The function evaluation of the Pareto set is called the Pareto front. The solution set is introduced to the decision-maker who can choose any point to implement. The simulation results in terms of Pareto front and time responses to external signals show the competing nature among the design objectives. The presented study may become the basis for multi-objective optimal design of multi-loop control systems.

Keywords: cascade control, multi-Loop control systems, multiobjective optimization, optimal control

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Authors: Thanh Nga Thai

Abstract:

A major issue in air transportation is in flight safety. Recent developments in control engineering have an attractive potential for resolving new issues related to guidance, navigation, and control of flying vehicles. Many future atmospheric missions will require increased on board autonomy including fault diagnosis and the subsequent control and guidance recovery actions. To improve designing system diagnostic, an efficient FDI- fault detection and identification- methodology is necessary to achieve. Contribute to characteristic of different faults in sensor and actuator in the view of mathematics brings a lot of profit in some condition changes in the system. This research finds some profit to reduce a trade-off to achieve between fault detection and performance of the closed loop system and cost and calculated in simulation.

Keywords: fault detection and identification, sensor faults, actuator faults, flight control system

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Authors: Xun Sun, Le Li, Ce Mo, Lei Mo, Ruiming Wang, Guosheng Ding

Abstract:

Cognitive control plays a central role in information processing, which is comprised of various components including response suppression and inhibitory control. Response suppression is considered to inhibit the irrelevant response during the cognitive process; while inhibitory control to inhibit the irrelevant stimulus in the process of cognition. Both of them undertake distinct functions for the cognitive control, so as to enhance the performances in behavior. Among numerous factors on cognitive control, bilingual experience is a substantial and indispensible factor. It has been reported that bilingual experience can influence the neural activity of cognitive control as whole. However, it still remains unknown how the neural influences specifically present on the components of cognitive control imposed by bilingualism. In order to explore the further issue, the study applied fMRI, used anti-saccade paradigm and compared the cerebral activations between high and low proficient Chinese-English bilinguals. Meanwhile, the study provided experimental evidence for the brain plasticity of language, and offered necessary bases on the interplay between language and cognitive control. The results showed that response suppression recruited the middle frontal gyrus (MFG) in low proficient Chinese-English bilinguals, but the inferior patrietal lobe in high proficient Chinese-English bilinguals. Inhibitory control engaged the superior temporal gyrus (STG) and middle temporal gyrus (MTG) in low proficient Chinese-English bilinguals, yet the right insula cortex was more active in high proficient Chinese-English bilinguals during the process. These findings illustrate insights that bilingual experience has neural influences on different components of cognitive control. Compared with low proficient bilinguals, high proficient bilinguals turn to activate advanced neural areas for the processing of cognitive control. In addition, with the acquisition and accumulation of language, language experience takes effect on the brain plasticity and changes the neural basis of cognitive control.

Keywords: bilingual experience, cognitive control, inhibition control, response suppression

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Authors: Abderraouf Gaaloul, Faouzi Msahli

Abstract:

The use of standard sliding mode controller, usually, leads to the appearing of an undesirable chattering phenomenon affecting the control signal. Such problem can be overcome using a higher-order sliding mode controller (HOSMC) which preserves the main properties of the standard sliding mode and deliberately increases the control smoothness. In this paper, we propose a new HOSMC for a class of uncertain multi-input multi-output nonlinear systems. Based on high gain and integral sliding mode paradigms, the established control scheme removes theoretically the chattering phenomenon and provides the stability of the control system. Numerical simulations are developed to show the effectiveness of the proposed controller when applied to solve a control problem of two water levels into a quadruple-tank process.

Keywords: nonlinear systems, sliding mode control, high gain, higher order

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Authors: Mia Schneeweiss, Joseph Merola

Abstract:

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin condition with a prevalence of 9.6 million in children under the age of 18 in the US, 3.2 million of those suffer severe AD. AD has significant effects on the quality of life and psychiatric comorbidity in affected patients. We sought to quantify the use of psychotropic medications and mental health services in children. We used longitudinal claims data form commercially insured patients in the US between 2003 and 2016 to identify children aged 18 or younger with a diagnosis of AD associated with an outpatient or inpatient encounter. A 180-day enrollment period was required before the first diagnosis of AD. Among those diagnosed, we computed the use of psychiatric services and dispensing of psychotropic medications during the following 6 months. Among 1.6 million children <18 years with a diagnosis of AD, most were infants (0-1 years: 17.6%), babies (1-2 years: 12.2%) and young children (2-4 years: 15.4). 5.1% were in age group 16-18 years. Among younger children 50% of patients were female, after the age of 14 about 60% were female. In 16-18 years olds 6.4% had at least one claim with a recorded psychopathology during the 6-month baseline period; 4.6% had depression, 3.3% anxiety, 0.3% panic disorder, 0.6% psychotic disorder, 0.1% anorexia. During the 6 months following the physician diagnosis of AD, 66% used high-potency topical corticosteroids, 3.5% used an SSRI, 0.3% used an SNRI, 1.2% used a tricyclic antidepressant, 1.4% used an antipsychotic medication, and 5.2% used an anxiolytic agent. 4.4% had an outpatient visit with a psychiatrist and 0.1% had been hospitalized with a psychiatric diagnosis. In 14-16 years olds, 4.7% had at least one claim with a recorded psychopathology during the 6-month baseline period; 3.3% had depression, 2.5% anxiety, 0.2% panic disorder, 0.5% psychotic disorder, 0.1% anorexia. During the 6 months following the physician diagnosis of AD, 68% used high-potency topical corticosteroids, 4.6% used an SSRI, 0.6% used an SNRI, 1.5% used a tricyclic antidepressant, 1.4% used an antipsychotic medication, and 4.6% used an anxiolytic agent. 4.7% had an outpatient visit with a psychiatrist and 0.1% had been hospitalized with a psychiatric diagnosis. In 12-14 years olds, 3.3% had at least one claim with a recorded psychopathology during the 6-month baseline period; 1.9% had depression, 2.2% anxiety, 0.1% panic disorder, 0.7% psychotic disorder, 0.0% anorexia. During the 6 months following the physician diagnosis of AD, 67% used high-potency topical corticosteroids, 2.1% used an SSRI, 0.1% used an SNRI, 0.7% used a tricyclic antidepressant, 0.9 % used an antipsychotic medication, and 4.1% used an anxiolytic agent. 3.8% had an outpatient visit with a psychiatrist and 0.05% had been hospitalized with a psychiatric diagnosis. In younger children psychopathologies were decreasingly common: 10-12: 2.8%; 8-10: 2.3%; 6-8: 1.3%; 4-6: 0.6%. In conclusion, there is substantial psychiatric comorbidity among children, <18 years old, with diagnosed atopic dermatitis in a US commercially insured population. Meaningful psychiatric medication use (>3%) starts as early as 12 years old.

Keywords: pediatric atopic dermatitis, phychotropic medication use, psychiatric comorbidity, claims database

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