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Non-impact printing techniques have in many fields of application replaced traditional printing methods. Apart from factors such as the type and conditions of ink/paper transfer and ink properties, the quality of the image produced with an office ink-jet printer depends decisively on paper characteristics. In this study, various medium- and photo-quality ink-jet paper sorts were examined for their general, optical, surface and printing properties. Based on these results, the ranking of tested paper properties according to their significance for ink-jet paper quality on one hand and the suitability of individual paper sorts for this printing technique on the other was determined using multivariate tool principal components analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are usually many sources for the supply of raw material to a pulp or paper mill in Sweden. Optimization of this supply is therefore a challenging task, and can only be managed properly if all aspects of risk are considered. In our study, these risks are related to when the weather reduces the load-bearing capacity of the ground or the roads. A stochastic and a deterministic model have been formulated, and they have been solved with mixed-integer quadratic programming and tested with data from a Swedish forest company. The results of this study show that the option value is greater than zero and that both the optimal policy and the option value change whenever the storage cost is altered. This shows that the optimal planning policy obtained from the stochastic model differs from the solution of the deterministic model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although flexible neural networks (FNNs) have been used more successfully than classical neural networks (CNNs) in many industrial applications, nothing is rigorously known about their properties. In fact they are not even well known to the systems and control community. In the first part of this paper, existing structures of and results on FNNs are surveyed. In the second part FNNs are examined in a theoretical framework. As a result, theoretical evidence is given for the superiority of FNNs over CNNs and further properties of the former are developed. More precisely, several fundamental properties of feedforward and recurrent FNNs are established. This includes the universal approximation capability, minimality, controllability, observability, and identifiability. In the broad sense, the results of this paper help that general use of FNNs in systems and control theory and applications be based on firm theoretical foundations. Theoretical analysis and synthesis of FNN-based systems thus become possible. The paper is concluded by a collection of topics for future work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper makes further generalisations based on the application of edge-based state decomposition methods on average consensus. The edge-based state decomposition method is a privacy-preserving technique that leverages the number of neighbours to decompose node information, effectively safeguarding the privacy of nodes in average consensus, even in the absence of reliable neighbours. Building upon this method, our research expands its applicability to bipartite consensus and scale consensus. In bipartite consensus, the method can also accurately achieve consensus while guaranteeing privacy. In contrast, scale consensus effectively protects the privacy of the final consistency result. In addition, this paper refines the privacy proofs for different enemies. Finally, the simulation results presented at the end of the paper validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the fixed-time adaptive event-triggered control problem for a class of nonlinear multiagent systems with full-state constraints. The problem of full-state constraints is solved for multiagent systems by utilising a one-to-one nonlinear mapping. The design conditions of the controllers are more easily satisfied than the existing barrier Lyapunov functions strategy. A fixed-time adaptive control scheme is proposed for unconstrained systems that are converted from constrained systems. In contract with the existing finite-time control schemes that rely on the initial states, this restriction condition can be removed in this paper. An improved event-triggered mechanism with an adaptable switching threshold is designed to provide flexible switching between fixed threshold and variable threshold policies, resulting in reduced execution and sampling. It is proved via the Lyapunov stability method that all signals of the closed-loop systems are semi-global practical fixed-time stable. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy is verified by some simulation results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the problem of robust output feedback control tracking for a class of nonlinear dual-rate sample-data systems subject to time-varying disturbances. These dual-rate systems, known as slow measurement fast control (SMFC) systems, are characterised by a slow sampling rate of the sensor and a fast updating rate of the controller. To facilitate high-frequency signal tracking, this paper introduces an alternating predictive generalised proportional integral observer (APGPIO). The proposed control method not only effectively restores the system state and captures disturbance changes between samples but also enhances the control bandwidth and anti-disturbance ability, enabling effective tracking of high-frequency reference outputs. By combining it with a fast updating sample-data feedback controller, APGPIO utilises predictive methods to increase the sampling rate of the system's sensors, matching the update frequency of the controller. Stability analysis demonstrates that the tracking error of this hybrid nonlinear system converges to a bounded region centred at the origin. Finally, the designed method's high control bandwidth and anti-disturbance ability are demonstrated through multiple sets of simulations using a real system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the adaptive finite-time fault-tolerant control (FTC) problem is investigated for uncertain nonlinear strict-feedback systems. The strict-feedback nonlinear system considered in this paper contains unknown nonlinear dynamics and actuator faults (both lock-in-place and loss of effectiveness). In this control process, adaptive laws are used to approximate unknown nonlinear functions. By using the sliding mode control technique and combining it with the adaptive backstepping control design, an adaptive terminal sliding mode FTC scheme is proposed. It is proved that the closed-loop system is finite-time stable and that the system output can track a given reference signal. Simulation results further show the efficacy of the designed control approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sparrow search algorithm (SSA) is an efficient swarm-intelligence-based algorithm that has made some significant advances since its introduction in 2020. A detailed overview of the basic SSA and several SSA-based variants is presented in this paper. To be specific, first, the principle of the basic SSA is introduced including its search mechanism and implementation process. Second, many improved SSAs are reviewed including the hybrid, chaotic, adaptive, binary and multi-objective SSAs. In addition, the applications of the SSAs are presented in some real scenarios such as the machine learning areas, energy systems, path planning and image processing. Finally, further research directions of the SSAs are discussed. This survey paper aims to provide a timely review on the latest developments of the SSAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fuzzy control has become one of the most effective tools for dealing with complex engineering processes. Over the years, research on fuzzy control systems has continuously evolved, witnessing numerous theoretical contributions and successful real-world achievements. The concept of model-free or data-driven fuzzy control was initially introduced with specific heuristics incorporated into the design. Due to the lack of a systematic framework for stability analysis in model-free fuzzy control, the significance of model-based fuzzy control has grown extensively. This approach ensures systematic design based on precise fuzzy models of the process. This survey focuses on the fundamental aspects of three prominent classes of fuzzy control. First, the paper commences with a review of Takagi–Sugeno fuzzy control systems. This includes discussions on stability analysis and controller design, exploring techniques to derive less conservative and/or complex results from a numerical burden perspective. Second, various aspects of data-driven fuzzy control are analysed in detail including a classification of the most popular data-driven control techniques and their combination with fuzzy control; a representative Iterative Feedback Tuning-based fuzzy controller is described. Third, this survey explores the fundamental aspects of evolving fuzzy control, with a particular emphasis on the significance of stability and control laws, which are not usually the primary focus of evolving intelligent systems research. For each discussed class of fuzzy control, the paper provides a selective list of mechatronics applications to illustrate their performance effectiveness, emphasising research papers published after 2011. Finally, drawing from recent advances in fuzzy control theory and mechatronics applications, future research directions and associated challenges are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the paper entitled 'An Graph HT ht optimisation approach to distributed event triggered fault detection over wireless sensor networks' by Zhong et al., distributed fault detection has been realised by resorting to the Graph HT ht optimisation approach, where a product term between the preset positive scalar and measurements is involved in the event-triggering condition. The high integration of physical processes and cyber infrastructure greatly promotes the speedy growth of cyber-physical systems (CPSs), which has been turning into a critical essence of the so-called fourth industrial revolution. The surv ey paper ' I A survey on sliding mode control for networked control systems i ' by Hu et al. proposes a profound review on recent advances of sliding mode control schemes, according to different scheduling protocols, actuator/sensor faults, and cyberattacks. [Extracted from the article]

In order to reach an agreement, each agent in distributed systems needs to exchange its state information with neighbours. In this case, however, it is difficult to guarantee sensitive information will not be leaked. To tackle the problem, this paper proposes an encryption method, which does not need to compromise accuracy to privacy, nor does it need to encrypt and decrypt state information every time. Meanwhile, the method in this paper not only keeps the initial state secret, but also considers the real-time state privacy. Then, we further elaborate two aspects of the proposed method by simple proofs. Finally, simulations are presented to verify the effectiveness of our algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simultaneous localisation and mapping (SLAM) systems have been widely studied over the past 30 years and extensively applied in various fields such as mobile robotics, augmented reality, and virtual reality. The goal of the SLAM technique is to simultaneously map the surrounding environment and obtain the ego-motion of the sensing platform. As the number of application scenarios of SLAM systems increases and related tasks become more complex, SLAM systems based on a single sensor are no longer sufficient to meet the demands, thus the trend for SLAM systems based on multi-sensor fusion has emerged. In this paper, we review the SLAM systems from the perspective of various configurations of heterogeneous sensors. These configurations include visual-inertial, lidar-inertial, lidar-visual, lidar-visual-inertial, and other multi-sensor fusion systems. In addition, the advantages and disadvantages of each configuration are also given. Based on the review, several open issues for further research are discussed at the end of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The robust stabilisation for a general class of disturbed nonlinear systems subject to state-dependent uncertainties is addressed in this paper. Different from most existing results, the lumped uncertainty, including external disturbances and model uncertainties, is relaxed to be bounded by some nonlinear functions rather than constants in this paper. Based upon the classical design procedure of disturbance observer-based control (DOBC), a new continuous saturation-based dynamic controller is proposed to estimate the lumped uncertainty. By the delicate design of several compact sets, the qualitative robust stability of the closed-loop system is guaranteed in the sense that all the signals of the closed-loop system can converge to an arbitrarily small compact set in a finite time. Furthermore, when the external disturbances are constants, the semi-global asymptotic stability can also be guaranteed by the proposed controller. Finally, the relationship between system uncertainties and observer gain is shown by a numerical simulation example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates the double tracking control problem for the complex dynamic network (CDN) with an unavailable link state. Firstly, from the angle of a large-scale system, the dynamical model of CDN is described by the vector differential equations, which consists of node dynamic subsystem (NDS) and link dynamic subsystem (LDS), in which the weighted-values of links are regarded as the state variables of LDS. Secondly, to realise the double tracking control (DT-Control) of CDN, the presented DT-Control scheme in this paper includes the synthesis of controller for NDS and the coupling term in LDS, which can ensure that the two subsystems track the given reference targets. The tracking of NDS contains the synchronisation of nodes as the special case, and the tracking of LDS shows that the eventual topologic structure of CDN will be determined only by the given link reference signal. Due to the economic and technological limitations of sensors in the practice applications, this paper assumes that the state variables of LDS are unavailable in the DT-Control scheme. Finally, the engineering simulation example is given to verify the validity of DT-Control scheme proposed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an adaptive tracking control strategy based on neural networks (NNs) is proposed for the stochastic nonlinear strict-feedback system with a time-varying input delay and unmeasurable states. A state observer is constructed to solve the problem of unmeasurable state and the effect of the time-varying input delay is compensated by using an auxiliary signal. All the virtual controllers and the actual controller are designed as the optimised solution of the corresponding subsystems to ensure the entire obtained controllers are optimised. To ensure that the states of the system are constrained within some given compact sets, the barrier Lyapunov function (BLF) is used to design the controller and perform stability analysis. Meanwhile, this paper adds a self-triggered mechanism to reduce the communication burden of the data transfer. Thus, the proposed control strategy can achieve optimised control and all system states can be constrained within the given ranges. On the other hand, all closed-loop signals of system are bounded in probability. Finally, it is demonstrated that the proposed control strategy can achieve the expected system performance by a simulation experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Therefore, there is a clear need for innovative performance analysis and parameter design approaches to adequately realize the desired system performance and resource utilization efficiency of networked systems under coding-decoding communication mechanisms. Over the last decade, networked systems have been undergoing quick developments due mainly to their distinct merits in easy installation, maintenance convenience, and reliability assurance. [Extracted from the article]

This paper presents a novel application of the metaheuristic Slime Mould Algorithm (SMA) to the optimal tuning of interval type-2 fuzzy controllers. Inserting the information feedback model F1 in SMA leads to a new version of the metaheuristic algorithm, further referred to as SMAF1. The paper discusses implementation details specific to interval type-2 fuzzy controllers for the position control of processes modelled by nonlinear servo systems with an integral component and dead zone plus saturation nonlinearity. The linear PI controllers are tuned on the basis of the Extended Symmetrical Optimum method using only one tuning parameter and next fuzzified to result in interval type-2 fuzzy controllers. The optimisation requires the minimisation of a discrete-time objective function expressed as the sum of time multiplied by squared control errors, and the vector variable is the parameter vector of the Mamdani PI fuzzy controller. Experimental results conclusively illustrate the superiority of SMAF1 and SMA in comparison with other metaheuristic algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cooperative robotics has gained considerable traction in the industrial sector with the expeditious use of multi-agent systems. Containment control is an emergent topic in cooperative multi-agent systems, with applications in areas such as warehouse robotics, inventory management, and transportation. Containment control is an amalgamation of formation and consensus control, which predominantly uses groups of multiple agents assigned as leaders and followers. This survey paper provides a comprehensive overview of key topics in containment control of multi-agent systems ranging from containment concepts to controllers. The paper discusses the role of communication and network topologies, the importance of accurate sensor measurements and agent dynamics, and various controller design and stability analysis techniques. The paper concludes by highlighting the promising research directions and challenges in the field along with real-world applications. Overall, this survey paper provides a valuable resource for researchers, practitioners, and students interested in the development of advanced multi-agent systems with containment control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the stability problem of delayed neural networks (DNNs) with time-varying delay. In the stability analysis of DNNs, the stability conditions are usually in form of second-order polynomial functions with respect to the time delay, which are nonlinear matrices inequalities and difficult to deal with. In order to obtain the stability criteria in terms of linear matrices inequalities (LMIs), some quadratic function negative-definiteness lemmas (QFNDLs) are proposed and widely employed. However, the research about QFNDL is still facing two challenges: large conservativeness and difficulty of optimisation. To overcome the challenges, this paper proposes a parameter-dependent quadratic function negative-definiteness lemma (PDQFNDL) to find the negative-definiteness condition. Compared with existing QFNDLs, the proposed lemma has two advantages: (i) Two moving points are introduced and the whole search interval is divided into two parts by an adjustable parameter, which contribute to the less conservativeness of stability criteria. (ii) The search interval of the adjustable parameter is smaller than the existing QFNDLs and the time of optimisation process is decreased. The proposed lemma is utilised to derive the less conservative stability criteria for DNNs based on a suitable Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional (LKF). Finally, the effectiveness and superiority of proposed stability criteria are demonstrated by several numerical examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]