Investigating the characteristic delay time in the leader–follower behavior in children single-file movement

The single-file movement experiment offered a convenient way to investigate the one-dimensional leader–follower behavior of pedestrians. This study investigated the time delays of children pedestrians in the leader–follower behavior by introducing a time-dependent delayed speed correlation. A total of 118 German students from the fifth grade(aged11–12 years old) and the 11th grade(aged 17–18 years old) participated the single-file experiment. The characteristic delay time for each pedestrian was identified by optimising the time-dependent delayed speed correlation. The influences of the curvature of the experimental scenario, density, age, and gender on the delay time were statistically examined. The results suggested that to a large extent, the revealed characteristic delay time was a density-dependent variable, and none of the curvatures, the age and gender of the individual, and the age and gender of the leader had a significant influence on it. The findings from this study are variable resources to understand the leader–follower behavior among children pedestrians and to build related simulation models.

Trade credit financing for supply chain coordination under financial challenges:a multi‑leader–follower game approach

This study is designed to solve supply chain inefficiencies caused by some members’financial problems,such as capital shortages and financing restrictions in a stochastic environment.To this end,we have established a supply chain finance framework by designing two novel coordinating contracts based on trade credit financing for different problem settings.These contracts are modeled in the form of multi-leader Stackelberg games that address horizontal and vertical competition in a supply chain consisting of multiple suppliers and a financially constrained manufacturer.However,previous studies in the trade credit literature have addressed only simple vertical competition,that is,seller-buyer competition.To solve the proposed models,two algorithms were developed by combining population-based metaheuristics,the Nash-domination concept,and the Nikaido-Isoda function.The results demonstrate that the proposed supply chain finance framework can eliminate supply chain inefficiencies and make a large profit for suppliers,as well as the financially constrained manufacturer.Furthermore,the results of the contracts’analysis showed that if the manufacturer is required to settle its payments to suppliers before the end of the period,the trade credit contract cannot coordinate the supply chain because of a lack of incentive for suppliers.However,if the manufacturer is allowed to extend its payments to the end of the period,the proposed trade credit financing contract can coordinate the supply chain.Finally,the sensitivity analysis results indicate that the worse the financial status of the manufacturer,the more bargaining power suppliers have in determining the contract parameters for more profit.

Precious Scrolls of Chinese Devout Women Buddhist Followers:A Case Study of Wilt Idema’s Pitfalls of Piety for Married Women

Deeply-rooted in China’s popular culture,precious scrolls(Baojuan)are the golden material to display popular religious belief of the mass.Based on the rare texts sorted and annotated by Shang Lixin,Dutch Sinologist Wilt L.Idema continues his journey of translating precious scrolls.Focused on the theme of devoted women Buddhist followers in Ming dynasty,he explores the ethical choices of married women in facing the betrayal of servants or concubines.His translations not only add important reading material to Western readers in the field of Chinese popular literature,but also set standard for the coming translators in rendering Chinese ballads.

基于Leader-follower与人工势场的多移动机器人编队控制

目的提出一种基于Leader-follower法和人工势场法相结合的多移动机器人编队控制方法,从而克服传统Leader-follower法中由微分方程确定的控制率无法将队形控制与避障统一的缺点.方法确定关于参数l和φ的人工势场函数,通过控制参数l和φ,使多移动机器人保持预定队形;机器人follower通过主动避障方法躲避障碍物,确定一个总的人工势场控制队形和避障.结果算法能使多移动机器人系统成功地进行编队和避障.结论通过仿真试验,机器人系统能够顺利通过狭窄通道,躲避静态障碍物和动态障碍物,并在避障后恢复队形,顺利到达目标,算法简单,从而验证了算法的有效性.

采用Leader-follower和模糊反馈机制的机器鱼队形控制

在Leader-follower框架下的多机器鱼系统队形控制中,针对Leader和Follower相对独立及落后机器鱼离队等问题,在传统的Leader-follower队形控制算法中引入模糊反馈控制器进行反馈调节,使得领航机器鱼Leader能定时检查Follower的位置,将多机器鱼系统的队形控制问题转化为具有反馈调节的Follower跟踪Leader的位置和方向的问题,以增强多机器鱼队形控制的稳定性,更好地协同作业完成任务.仿真试验验证了所提出的方法能较好地实现多机器鱼系统的队形控制.

Multi-circular formation control with reinforced transient profiles for nonholonomic vehicles:A path-following framework

This article investigates a multi-circular path-following formation control with reinforced transient profiles for nonholonomic vehicles connected by a digraph.A multi-circular formation controller endowed with the feature of spatial-temporal decoupling is devised for a group of vehicles guided by a virtual leader evolving along an implicit path,which allows for a circumnavigation on multiple circles with an anticipant angular spacing.In addition,notice that it typically imposes a stringent time constraint on time-sensitive enclosing scenarios,hence an improved prescribed performance control(IPPC)using novel tighter behavior boundaries is presented to enhance transient capabilities with an ensured appointed-time convergence free from any overshoots.The significant merits are that coordinated circumnavigation along different circles can be realized via executing geometric and dynamic assignments independently with modified transient profiles.Furthermore,all variables existing in the entire system are analyzed to be convergent.Simulation and experimental results are provided to validate the utility of suggested solution.

A Novel Prescribed-Performance Path-Following Problem for Non-Holonomic Vehicles

The issue of achieving prescribed-performance path following in robotics is addressed in this paper,where the aim is to ensure that a desired path within a specified region is accu-rately converged to by the controlled vehicle.In this context,a novel form of the prescribed performance guiding vector field is introduced,accompanied by a prescribed-time sliding mode con-trol approach.Furthermore,the interdependence among the pre-scribed parameters is discussed.To validate the effectiveness of the proposed method,numerical simulations are presented to demonstrate the efficacy of the approach.

Evaluation of the Impact of Driver Behavior on Back of Queues Events in Work Zones Using the SHRP2 Naturalistic Driving Study Data

The SHRP2 Naturalistic Driving Study was used to evaluate the impact of various work zone and driver characteristics on back of queue safety critical events (crash, near-crash, or conflicts) The model included 43 SCE and 209 “normal” events which were used as controls. The traces included representing 209 unique drivers. A Mixed-Effects Logistic Regression model was developed with probability of a SCE as the response variable and driver and work zone characteristics as predictor variables. The final model indicated glances over 1 second away from the driving task and following closely increased risk of an SCE by 3.8 times and 2.9 times, respectively. Average speed was negatively correlated to crash risk. This is counterintuitive since in most cases, it is expected that higher speeds are related to back of queue crashes. However, most queues form under congested conditions. As a result, vehicles encountering a back of queue would be more likely to be traveling at lower speeds.

A Case of Investigation and Diagnosis of Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura After Vaccination of COVID-19 Inactivated Vaccine

Objective:Analyze the relationship between inoculating one case of the COVID-19 inactivated vaccine(Vero cell)and immune thrombocytopenic purpura to provide a reference for the standardized handling of adverse events following immunization.Methods:According to the"National Monitoring Program for Suspected Adverse Reactions to Vaccinations,"an on-site investigation,data collection and analysis,expert group diagnosis,and medical association assessment were conducted on a case of immune thrombocytopenic purpura in District A of Chongqing after vaccination with the inactivated COVID-19 vaccine.The assessment report was delivered to the three relevant parties,the case was reviewed,and the experience was summarized.Results:The investigation and diagnosis by the district-level vaccination abnormal reaction expert group concluded that the disease that occurred after vaccination with the COVID-19 inactivated vaccine was secondary immune thrombocytopenic purpura,an abnormal reaction to the vaccination.The medical damage was classified as Level II Grade B.The vaccine production enterprise raised objections to this conclusion.After re-assessment by the municipal-level medical association,the conclusion was consistent with that of the district-level medical association.The vaccine production enterprise did not raise any further objections.Conclusion:Through active collaboration among district and municipal-level medical associations,disease control institutions,and vaccination units,the recipients have been promptly and effectively treated,providing financial support for their subsequent treatment and safeguarding their rights.The investigation and disposal procedures for adverse events following immunization in Chongqing are clear,and the mechanism is sound.It is necessary to continue strengthening the monitoring of adverse events following immunization according to the existing plan and to ensure timely and standardized handling.Simultaneously,it is crucial to strengthen vaccine management and vaccination management.

基于条件反馈机制Leader-follower多机器人队形控制

针对Leader-follower多机器人系统队形控制中,Leader和follower相对独立及落后机器人离队等问题,采用基于条件反馈机制的Leader-follower多机器人队形控制方法,建立基于条件反馈机制和Lead-follower相结合的多机器人队形控制模型。将多机器人系统的队形控制问题转化为基于条件反馈机制的follower跟踪leader的位置和方向的问题,通过实例仿真验证了方法的有效性。仿真结果表明所提出的方法是合理有效的,使多机器人系统能够有效地完成编队控制任务。

Adaptive sliding-mode path following control system of the underactuated USV under the influence of ocean currents

The path-following control of the asymmetry underactuated unmanned surface vehicle(USV) under external disturbances such as unknown constant and irrational ocean currents is discussed, and an adaptive sliding-mode path-following control system is proposed, which comprises a path-variable updated law,a modified integral line-of-sight(ILOS) guidance law based on a time-varying lookahead distance and adaptive feedback linearizing controllers combined with sliding-mode technique. A more accurate USV model without the assumption of having diagonal inertia and damping matrices is first presented, aiming at improving the performance of the path-following control. Next, the coordinate transformation is adopted to decouple the sway dynamic from the rudder angle, and the path-following errors dynamics without non-singular problem are presented in the moving Frenet-Serret frame. Then, based on the cascaded theorem and the adaptive sliding-mode method, the adaptive control law of position errors and course error are designed, among which the lookahead distance and integral gain are all computed as different functions of cross-track error to estimate and compensate the sideslip angle caused by external disturbances adaptively. Finally, according to the Lyapunov and cascaded theorem, the control system proposed is proved to be uniform globally asymptotic stability(UGAS) and uniform semiglobal exponential stability(USGES) when the control objectives are all achieved. Simulation results illustrate the precision and high-quality performance of this new controller.

Anti-follower jamming wide gap multi-pattern frequency hopping communication method

This paper deals with the follower jamming(FJ)resistance for the frequency hopping(FH)communication system over additive white Gaussian noise(AWGN)channel.Conventional FH systems are susceptible to be jammed by FJ,and multi-pattern frequency hopping(MPFH)has good resistance to FJ.To further improve the FJ rejection capability of MPFH,we propose a wide gap multi-pattern frequency hopping(WGMPFH)scheme.WGMPFH uses channels to represent messages,and the data channel and complementary channel are hopping on orthogonal frequency slots according to wide gap FH patterns.The transmitted signal lures FJ to aim at the data channel and the complementary channel is away from FJ by adopting wide gap frequency patterns.FJ does not affect the complementary channel but increases the signal energy in the data channel,thus the effect of FJ is reduced.Its bit error rate(BER)is derived under FJ and the effects of three FJ parameters(tracking success probability,jamming duration ratio and jamming bandwidth ratio)on the BER performance of WGMPFH are investigated versus the co nventional FH/BFSK and MPFH system.Numerical and simulation results show that when under the worst-case FJ,the proposed WGMPFH outperforms the MPFH by about 1-3 dB and outperforms the conventional FH/BFSK by more than 4 dB.The proposed WGMPFH shows superior jamming rejection performance under FJ especially in severe signal-to-jamming ratio(SJR).

Design of Cylindrical Cam with Oscillating Follower Based on 3D Expansion of Planar Profile Model

Cylindrical cam with oscillating follower is widely applicable and used in many mechanical devices and machines. However, a common error exists in the methods of designing planar profile for oscillating follower cylinder cam. In this study, we propose a new hypothesis to solve this design problem with the inclusion of deviation angle. On the basis of this new concept, equations for planar profile expansion and methods of calculating pressure angle are deduced by applying 3D expansion formula of the follower＇s motion orbit. When the pressure angle is less than allowable value, the minimum base radius can be determined by using MATLAB software. Accordingly, the planar profile of oscillating follower cylinder cam is generated by CAD software. This new method is practical and can be easily adopted for the design of oscillating follower cylindrical cam with desirable accuracy. We applied the method in the design of cylindrical cam for paper feeding mechanism used in high-speed printers. We calculated the planar profile and used it to direct the NC machine for the manufacture of the groove of cylindrical cam. The improved cylindrical cam met all of the requirements of speed and accuracy demanded by high-speed printers. Therefore, our new method has been validated by practical application.

A Mode-Switching Motion Control System for Reactive Interaction and Surface Following Using Industrial Robots

This work proposes a sensor-based control system for fully automated object detection and exploration(surface following) with a redundant industrial robot. The control system utilizes both offline and online trajectory planning for reactive interaction with objects of different shapes and color using RGBD vision and proximity/contact sensors feedback where no prior knowledge of the objects is available. The RGB-D sensor is used to collect raw 3D information of the environment. The data is then processed to segment an object of interest in the scene. In order to completely explore the object, a coverage path planning technique is proposed using a dynamic 3D occupancy grid method to generate a primary(offline) trajectory. However, RGB-D sensors are very sensitive to lighting and provide only limited accuracy on the depth measurements. Therefore, the coverage path planning is then further assisted by a real-time adaptive path planning using a fuzzy self-tuning proportional integral derivative(PID)controller. The latter allows the robot to dynamically update the 3D model by a specially designed instrumented compliant wrist and adapt to the surfaces it approaches or touches. A modeswitching scheme is also proposed to efficiently integrate and smoothly switch between the interaction modes under certain conditions. Experimental results using a CRS-F3 manipulator equipped with a custom-built compliant wrist demonstrate the feasibility and performance of the proposed method.

Optimal control strategy for energy saving in trains under the four-aspect fixed autoblock system

This paper deals with both the leading train and the following train in a train tracking under a four-aspect fixed autoblock system in order to study the optimum operating strategy for energy saving. After analyzing the working principle of the four-aspect fixed autoblock system, an energy-saving control model is created based on the dynamics equation of the Wains. In addition to safety, energy consumption and time error are the main concerns of the model. Based on this model, dynamic speed constraints of the following train are proposed, defined by the leading gain dynamically. At the same time, the static speed constraints defined by the line conditions are also taken into account. The parallel genetic algorithm is used to search the optimum operating strategy. In order to simplify the solving process, the external punishment function is adopted to transform this problem with constraints to the one without constraints. By using the real number coding and the strategy of dividing ramps into three parts, the convergence of GA is accelerated and the length of chromosomes is shortened. The simulation result from a four-aspect fixed autoblock system simulation platform shows that the method can reduce the energy consumption effectively in the premise of ensuring safety and punctuality.

Distributed H_∞ control of multi-agent systems with directed networks

This paper studies the distributed H∞control problem of identical linear time invariant multi-agent systems subject to external disturbances. A directed graph containing a spanning tree is used to model the communication topology. Based on the relative states of the neighbor agents and a subset of absolute states of the agents, distributed static H∞controllers are proposed. The concept of an H∞performance region is extended to the directed graph situation. Then the results are used to solve the leader–follower H∞consensus problem. Sufficient conditions are proposed based on bounded real lemma and algebraic graph theory. The effectiveness of the theoretical results is illustrated via numerical simulations.

A Parallel Indexing Cam Mechanism with Internal Placed Followers

A new type of parallel indexing cam mechanism is discovered.The composition of the cam profile is proposed and the formulas of the mechanism parameters are established by synthesis of its configuration and size.The equations for working pro- file and pressure angle of the cam are derived based on the inverse model and the derivative of pitch curve of cams.An example is given and demonstrates that it is available to design the new mechanism using the derived expressions.

Adaptive robust control for triple avoidance - striking - arrival performance of uncertain tank mechanical systems

This paper puts forward an unprecedented avoidance-striking-arrival problem aiming to address the need for tank's uncertain mechanical systems on the intelligent battlefield.The associated system uncertainties(possibly rapid)are time-varying but bounded(possibly unknown).The goal is to design a controller that enables the tank to aim at and attack the enemy tank while keeping itself(out of the enemy fire zone).The tank maintains this condition until reaching the predefined region.In this paper,an approximate constraint following control method is adopted to solve this problem,and the original constraints are creatively divided into two categories:the avoidance-tracking constraint and the striking-arrival constraint.An adaptive robust control method is proposed and consequently verified through simulation experiments.It is proved that the system fully obeys the avoidance-tracking-constraint and strictly obeys the striking-arrival constraint under the control input.Besides,the control of the tank vehicle running system and tank gun bidirectional stabilization system are unified to deal with the control signal delay caused by complex uncertainties on the battlefield.Overall,this paper reduced the delay of signal transmission in the system while solved the avoidance-striking-arrival problem.

Wall Follower Autonomous Robot Development Applying Fuzzy Incremental Controller

This paper presents the design of an autonomous robot as a basic development of an intelligent wheeled mobile robot for air duct or corridor cleaning. The robot navigation is based on wall following algorithm. The robot is controlled using fuzzy incremental controller (FIC) and embedded in PIC18F4550 microcontroller. FIC guides the robot to move along a wall in a desired direction by maintaining a constant distance to the wall. Two ultrasonic sensors are installed in the left side of the robot to sense the wall distance. The signals from these sensors are fed to FIC that then used to determine the speed control of two DC motors. The robot movement is obtained through differentiating the speed of these two motors. The experimental results show that FIC is successfully controlling the robot to follow the wall as a guidance line and has good performance compare with PID controller.

Transverse Vibration and Stability Analysis of Circular Plate Subjected to Follower Force and Thermal Load

Transverse vibration and stability analysis of circular plate subjected to follower force and thermal load are analyzed.Based on the thin plate theory in involving the variable temperature,the differential equation of transverse vibration for the axisymmetric circular plate subjected to follower force and thermal load is established.Then,the differential equation of vibration and corresponding boundary conditions are discretized by the differential quadrature method.Meanwhile,the generalized eigenvalue under three different boundary conditions are calculated.In this case,the change curve of the first order dimensionless complex frequency of the circular plate subjected to the follower force in the different conditions with the variable temperature coefficient and temperature load is analyzed.The stability and corresponding critical loads of the circular plate subjected to follower force and thermal load with simply supported edge,clamped edge and free edge are discussed.The results provide theoretical basis for improving the dynamic stability of the circular plate.