The Relationship of Effortful Control to Academic Achievement via Children’s Learning-Related Behaviors

Effortful control (EC) is a temperamental self-regulatory capacity, defined as the efficiency of executive attention [1], which is related to individual differences in self-regulation. Although effortful control covers some dispositional self-regulatory abilities important to cope with social demands of successful adaptation to school, such as attention regulation, individual differences in EC have recently been associated with school functioning through academic achievement including the efficient use of learning-related behaviors, which have been found to be a necessary precursor of learning and they refer to a set of children’s behaviors that involve organizational skills and appropriate habits of study. Therefore, the aim of this study is to review the literature on EC’s relationship to academic achievement via learning-related behaviors, which reflect the use of metacognitive control processes in kindergarten and elementary school students. The findings indicate that EC affects academic achievement through the facilitation of the efficient use of metacognitive control processes.

Relationship among Eating Behavior, Effortful Control, and Working Memory in Female Young Adults

The management of eating behavior plays an important role in health maintenance. In this study, we investigated the relationship between eating behavior and effortful control in female young adults. Participants completed the questionnaire measures of effortful control and eating behaviors and Stroop cognitive interference task. The results showed that restrained eating was positively correlated with activation control;emotional eating was negatively correlated with inhibitory control and attentional control;external eating was negatively correlated with inhibitory, activation, and attentional control. The scores for activation control and restrained eating were higher for participants with a low Stroop error rate than for those with a high Stroop error rate. These results indicate that restrained eating has a different association with effortful control than doing emotional and external eating.

An Improved Control Algorithm for High-order Nonlinear Systems with Unmodelled Dynamics

In this paper, we consider a class of high-order nonlinear systems with unmodelled dynamics from the viewpoint of maintaining the desired control performance （e,g., asymptotical stability） and reducing the control effort. By introducing a new reseating transformation, adopting an effective reduced-order observer, and choosing an ingenious Lyapunov function and appropriate design parameters, this paper designs all improved output-feedback controller. The output-feedback controller guarantees the globally asymptotieal stability of the closed-loop system. Subsequently, taking a concrete system for an example, the smaller critical values for gain parameter and resealing transformation parameter are obtained to effectively reduce the control effort.

Effectiveness of a Passive-active Vibration Isolation System with Actuator Constraints

In the prediction of active vibration isolation performance, control force requirements were ignored in previous work. This may limit the realization of theoretically predicted isolation performance if control force of large magnitude cannot be supplied by actuators.The behavior of a feed-forward active isolation system subjected to actuator output constraints is investigated. Distributed parameter models are developed to analyze the system response, and to produce a transfer matrix for the design of an integrated passive-active isolation system. Cost functions comprising a combination of the vibration transmission energy and the sum of the squared control forces are proposed. The example system considered is a rigid body connected to a simply supported plate via two passive-active isolation mounts. Vertical and transverse forces as well as a rotational moment are applied at the rigid body, and resonances excited in elastic mounts and the supporting plate are analyzed. The overall isolation performance is evaluated by numerical simulation. The simulation results are then compared with those obtained using unconstrained control strategies. In addition, the effects of waves in elastic mounts are analyzed. It is shown that the control strategies which rely on tmconstrained actuator outputs may give substantial power transmission reductions over a wide frequency range, but also require large control force amplitudes to control excited vibration modes of the system. Expected power transmission reductions for modified control strategies that incorporate constrained actuator outputs are considerably less than typical reductions with unconstrained actuator outputs. In the frequency range in which rigid body modes are present, the control strategies can only achieve 5-10 dB power transmission reduction, when control forces are constrained to be the same order of the magnitude as the primary vertical force. The resonances of the elastic mounts result in a notable increase of power transmission in high frequency range and cannot be attenuated by active control. The investigation provides a guideline for design and evaluation of active vibration isolation systems.

Recursive Zero-COVID model and quantitation of control efforts of the Omicron epidemic in Jilin province

Since the beginning of March 2022,the epidemic due to the Omicron variant has developed rapidly in Jilin Province.To figure out the key controlling factors and validate the model to show the success of the Zero-COVID policy in the province,we constructed a Recursive Zero-COVID Model quantifying the strength of the control measures,and defined the control reproduction number as an index for describing the intensity of interventions.Parameter estimation and sensitivity analysis were employed to estimate and validate the impact of changes in the strength of different measures on the intensity of public health preventions qualitatively and quantitatively.The recursive Zero-COVID model predicted that the dates of elimination of cases at the community level of Changchun and Jilin Cities to be on April 8 and April 17,respectively,which are consistent with the real situation.Our results showed that the strict implementation of control measures and adherence of the public are crucial for controlling the epidemic.It is also essential to strengthen the control intensity even at the final stage to avoid the rebound of the epidemic.In addition,the control reproduction number we defined in the paper is a novel index to measure the intensity of the prevention and control measures of public health.

Prescribed-Time Control of Stochastic Nonlinear Systems with Reduced Control Effort

A new prescribed-time state-feedback design is presented for stochastic nonlinear strictfeedback systems.Different from the existing stochastic prescribed-time design where scaling-free quartic Lyapunov functions or scaled quadratic Lyapunov functions are used,the design is based on new scaled quartic Lyapunov functions.The designed controller can ensure that the plant has an almost surely unique strong solution and the equilibrium at the origin of the plant is prescribed-time mean-square stable.After that,the authors redesign the controller to solve the prescribed-time inverse optimal mean-square stabilization problem.The merit of the design is that the order of the scaling function in the controller is reduced dramatically,which effectively reduces the control effort.Two simulation examples are given to illustrate the designs.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis control in Alta Verapaz (northern Guatemala): evaluating current efforts through stakeholders' experiences

Background:Cutaneous leishmaniasis(CL),endemic in Guatemala,mostly affects poor people living in the northern region.A national control program that ineludes surveillanee,diagnose,and treatment offered free of cost by the Ministry of Health(MoH)has been in place since 2003.However,the incidence is increasing and treatment rates are not optimal,suggesting that current efforts are not being effective.This study aimed to understand barriers and facilitators of CL control in Guatemala as experienced and perceived by key stakeholders in order to comprehend what works well and does not and suggest evidence-informed interventions.Methods:The study was conducted in the Coban municipality,the most endemic of Guatemala,situated in the Department of Alta Verapaz.Data were collected during May and June 2019 via focus groups and semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders,including local and national health personnel and residents of four communities of the endemic region.Thematic and content analysis of the collected data was conducted using NVIVO.Results:Three overarching issues hamper the effectiveness of current CL efforts:resource scarcity,treatment challenges,and knowledge-action gaps.Scarce economic resources from the MoH and community residents negatively impact incidence,detection of cases and treatment rates in that preventive action is insufficient and healthcare access is low.In addition,local health workers often lack specialized CL training and access to the national CL control guidelines.With regards to the population living in the study area,misunderstanding of disease causation,shame associated with CL lesions,treatment pain fear,and long(often uncertain)waiting times for diagnose and treatment negatively affect people's willingness to seek help,treatment adherence,and their trust on the healthcare provided.Conclusions:Culturally sensitive CL preventive action must be developed.Given the scarce economic resources available for CL control in the country,the involvement of trained community health workers and the inelusion of thermotherapy as a treatment option is also advised.Other cost-effective actions include:ensuring all health workers receive CL training and have access to national CL control guidelines,improving national procurement system to avoid treatment shortages,and provision of motorized vehicles to increase active surveillance and treatment rates.

Chaos control of the power system via sliding mode based on fuzzy supervisor

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to address the problem of control in a typical chaotic power system.Chaotic oscillations cannot only extremely endanger the stabilization of the power system but they can also not be controlled by adding the traditional controllers.So,the sliding mode control based on a fuzzy supervisor can sufficiently ensure perfect tracking and controlling in the presence of uncertainties.Closed-loop stability is proved using the Lyapunov stability theory.The simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed method in damping chaotic oscillations of the power system,eliminating control signal chattering and also show less control effort in comparison with the methods considered in previous literatures.Design/methodology/approach-The sliding mode control based on a fuzzy supervisor can sufficiently ensure perfect tracking and controlling in the presence of uncertainties.Closed-loop stability is proved using the Lyapunov stability theory.Findings-Closed-loop stability is proved using the Lyapunov stability theory.The simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed method in damping chaotic oscillations of power system,eliminating control signal chattering and also less control effort in comparison with the methods considered in previous literatures.Originality/value-Main contributions of the paper are as follows:the chaotic behavior of power systems with two uncertainty parameters and tracking reference signal for the control of generator angle and the controller signal are discussed;designing sliding mode control based on a fuzzy supervisor in order to practically implement for the first time;while the generator speed is constant,the proposed controller will enable the power system to go in any desired trajectory for generator angle at first time;stability of the closed-loop sliding mode control based on the fuzzy supervisor system is proved using the Lyapunov stability theory;simulation of the proposed controller shows that the chattering is low control signal.