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Nonlinear Observers and Applications
The problem of state reconstruction in dynamical systems, known as observer problem, is undoubtedly crucial for controlling or just monitoring processes. For linear systems, the corresponding theory has been quite well established for several years now, and the purpose of the present book is to propose an overview on possible tools in that respect for nonlinear systems. Basic observability notions and observer structures are first recalled, together with ingredients for advanced designs on this basis. A special attention is then paid to the well-known high gain techniques with a summary of various corresponding recent results. A focus on the celebrated Extended Kalman filter is also given, in the perspectives of both nonlinear filtering and high gain observers, leading to so-called adaptive-gain observers. The more specific immersion approach for observer design is then emphasized, while optimization-based methods are also presented as an alternative to analytic observers.
Multinational Enterprises, Foreign Direct Investment and Growth in Africa : South African Perspectives
How can Africa, the world’s most lagging region, benefit from globalisation and achieve sustained economic growth? Africa needs greater investment by Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) to improve competitiveness and generate more growth through positive spill-over effects. Despite the fact that Africa’s returns on investment averaged 29% since 1990, Africa has gained merely 1% of global Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows. The challenge for African countries is how to be a more desirable destination for FDI. The study integrates three currents of economic research, namely from the literature on (endogenous) economic growth, convergence and regional integration, the explanations for Africa’s poor growth and the growing understanding of the role of MNEs in a global economy. The empirical side of the book is based on an econometric study of the determinants of FDI in Africa as well as a detailed firm-level survey conducted in 2000.
Model-based Process Supervision : A Bond Graph Approach
Model-based fault detection and isolation requires a mathematical model of the system behaviour. Modelling is important and can be difficult because of the complexity of the monitored system and its control architecture. The authors use bond-graph modelling, a unified multi-energy domain modelling method, to build dynamic models of process engineering systems by composing hierarchically arranged sub-models of various commonly encountered process engineering devices. The structural and causal properties of bond-graph models are exploited for supervisory systems design.
Model-based Fault Diagnosis Techniques : Design Schemes, Algorithms, and Tools
The objective of this book is to introduce basic model-based FDI schemes, advanced analysis and design algorithms and the needed mathematical and control theory tools at a level for graduate students and researchers as well as for engineers.
Handbook of employment discrimination research : Rights and realities
This volume contains acollection of original papersbyleadinglegal scholars and social scientists that develop new perspectivesonanti-discriminationlaw, with anemphasison employment discrimination. The volume is introduced by three papers that broadly an-alyze anti-discriminationlaw andits relationshiptoexisting socialscience. we write as lawyer-sociologists attemptingto advance a socio-legalunderstanding of employment discrimination law. We examine the debate amongcom-petingconceptions of the anti-discrimination law which argue that the law has becometoo expansive, is too weak, or is too reliant on litigation. After review in gdoctrinal developments in the law and trends in claiming behavior before the EEOC and the federal courts through the 1990s to present, we apply the concept of the pyramid ofdisputes to discrimination claims to assess the ongoingdebate. Although the analysis demonstrates that there are significant gaps in our knowledge of how employment dis-crimination claims arise and are dealt with, it also suggests that the current system isdramatically under-inclusive of potentialclaimants.
Foundations of security analysis and design III : FOSAD 2004/2005 tutorial lectures
The increasing relevance of security to real-life applications, such as electronic commerce and Internet banking, is attested by the fast-growing number of - search groups, events, conferences, and summer schools that address the study of foundations for the analysis and the design of security aspects. The “Int- national School on Foundations of Security Analysis and Design” (FOSAD, see http://www.sti.uniurb.it/events/fosad/)has been one of the foremost events - tablishedwiththegoalofdisseminatingknowledgeinthiscriticalarea,especially for young researchers approaching the ?eld and graduate students coming from less-favoured and non-leading countries. The FOSAD school is held annually at the Residential Centre of Bertinoro (http://www.ceub.it/), in the fascinating setting of a former convent and ep- copal fortress that has been transformed into a modern conference facility with computing services and Internet access. Since the ?rst school, in 2000, FOSAD hasattractedmorethan250participantsand50lecturersfromallovertheworld.
Design Science and Its Importance in the German Mathematics Educational Discussion
This ICME-13 Topical Survey reviews the state-of-the-art by first exploring the roots and scope of design science. Second, it presents two examples of current design science projects that focus on substantial learning environments including a student and a teacher perspective. Subsequently, the book elaborates on how empirical research can be conceptualised within design science. Lastly, it explores developments in design science from a national and international perspective, while also discussing current trends in design research. Within the German-language tradition, considering ‘mathematics education as a design science’ primarily draws on the works of Wittmann.
Deep Integration, Global Firms, and Technology Spillovers
This book explores the impact of deep regional economic integration on spillovers of knowledge and technology across countries. Deep integration through signing deep regional trade agreements (DRTAs), which cover various policy areas in addition to tariff reductions, may or may not facilitate technology spillovers among their signatories. To understand the mechanism of the impact of deep integration on technology spillovers, this book starts by analyzing the behavior of global firms. Factors that affect global firms’ activities, such as export, foreign direct investment (FDI), offshore outsourcing, are examined. Micro data on Japanese firms are employed for the analysis. Then, the relationships between bilateral trade patterns and technology spillovers and between types of FDI and technology spillovers are investigated in detail.
Locational Tournaments in the Context of the EU Competitive Environment : A New Institutional Economics Approach to Foreign Direct Investment Policy Competition between Governments in Europe
The last decade has witnessed a dramatic change in attitude towards foreign direct investment (FDI) and a significant increase in competition between governments to attract FDI as a result. These "locational tournaments" are perpetuated not simply by classical factor endowments, but also by government interventions that impact both market imperfections and FDI flows.
Abstraction, reformulation and approximation ; 6th International symposium, SARA 2005, Airth Castle, Scotland, UK, July 26-29, 2005, proceedings
This volume contains the proceedings of the 6th Symposium on Abstraction, Reformulation and Approximation (SARA 2005). the proceedings have been published in the LNAI series of Springer. Abstractions, reformulations and approximations (AR&A) have found app- cationsin avarietyofdisciplines andproblems, including constraintsatisfaction, design, diagnosis, machine learning, planning, qualitative reasoning, scheduling, resource allocation and theorem proving, but are also deeply rooted in philo- phy and cognitive science. The papers in this volume capture a cross-section of the various facets of the ?eld and of its applications. One of the primary uses of AR&A is oriented to overcome computational intractability. AR&A techniques, however, have also proved useful for knowledge acquisition, explanation and other applications.
