1,720,982 research outputs found

    Guidance and control for defense systems against ballistic threats

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    A defense system against ballistic threat is a very complex system from the engineering point of view. It involves different kinds of subsystems and, at the same time, it presents very strict requirements. Technology evolution drives the need of constantly upgrading system’s capabilities. The guidance and control fields are two of the areas with the best progress possibilities. This thesis deals with the guidance and control problems involved in a defense system against ballistic threats. This study was undertaken by analyzing the mission of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Trajectory reconstruction from radar and satellite measurements was carried out with an estimation algorithm for nonlinear systems. Knowing the trajectory is a prerequisite for intercepting the ballistic missile. Interception takes place thanks to a dedicated tactical missile. The guidance and control of this missile were also studied in this work. Particular attention was paid on the estimation of engagement’s variables inside the homing loop. Interceptor missiles are usually equipped with a seeker that provides the angle under which the interceptor sees its target. This single measurement does not guarantee the observability of the variables required by advanced guidance laws such as APN, OGL, or differential games-based laws. A new guidance strategy was proposed, that solves the bad observability problems and returns satisfactory engagement performances. The thesis is concluded by a study of the interceptor most suitable aerodynamic configuration in order to implement the proposed strategy, and by the relative autopilot design. The autopilot implements the lateral acceleration commands from the guidance system. The design was carried out with linear control techniques, considering requirements on the rising time, actuators maximum effort, and response to a bang-bang guidance command. The analysis of the proposed solutions was carried on by means of numerical simulations, developed for each single case-study

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed

    Variations on the Author

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    “Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship

    Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis

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    We provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis

    Vehicle Sideslip Angle estimation under critical road conditions via nonlinear Kalman filter-based state-dependent Interacting Multiple Model approach

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    The knowledge of Vehicle Sideslip Angle (VSA) can play an essential role in active safety vehicle control systems. However, due to the high costs of sensing instruments, this information is difficult to be directly measured onboard of series production vehicles, restricting de facto its application in practice. It follows that there is a need for online VSA estimation methods only based on available measurements from low-cost sensors. From this perspective, this work proposes a strategy based on Interacting Multiple Model (IMM) filters, which does not require tyre–road friction coefficient knowledge. By integrating the available onboard sensor data, the IMM estimates relevant information in different driving conditions leveraging a 2-Degrees Of Freedom (DOF) single-track vehicle model embedding a Dugoff tyre representation. Two alternative IMM algorithms based on the Extended (EKF) and Unscented Kalman filter (UKF) are developed. Moreover, while usually the transition probabilities among models in classical IMMs are fixed and set on prior information and/or dedicated analysis, here these conservative hypotheses are relaxed introducing a state-dependent Markov transition matrix based on a novel model switching algorithm. The effectiveness of the new proposed methods is evaluated on extensive non-trivial simulation scenarios through a Monte Carlo analysis exploiting an accurate 15-DOF vehicle model via a purposely designed high-fidelity co-simulation platform embedding the dSPACE software Automotive Simulation Model (ASM). Results provide a meaningful comparative performance analysis between the IMMEKF and IMMUKF solutions, as well as with respect to traditional IMM based on constant probabilities transition matrix, blue in both the EKF and UKF configuration. Finally, the developed IMM-based estimation strategy is tested in two realistic driving scenarios to assess the VSA estimation accuracy in case of abrupt changes in road surface conditions

    Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts

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    We conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more sophisticated methods

    Author Index

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    koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist

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    We have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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