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Recent publications
Using different raw material in injection molding could happen in situations where the original material becomes unavailable, material cost rises, or in response to customer demands. However, applying different materials on the same mold often leads to excessive dimensional deviation, causing quality degradation. To reduce defect rate and circumvent high cost expenditure on new molds, this paper presents an experimental framework aiming to implement process optimization efficiently and attain a predictable level for the quality characteristics. The methodology starts from a Taguchi experimental design where process parameters including both controllable factors and uncontrollable factors were arranged into an orthogonal array. Driven by its efficiency, Taguchi method was able to produce optimal process parameter levels that significantly improved the process capability. Subsequently, data collected by an in-mold sensing system was analyzed to extract the contribution from in-mold process variables that are not externally accessible. In order to quantitatively rank the impacts from in-mold process variables, a multiple linear regression (MLR) were performed with top influential factors identified. The selected influential variables allowed for the quality characteristic to be predicted through a fuzzy logic based predictive model. In conclusion, the methodology presented in this paper has the potential of reducing or eliminating defect rate caused by material variation, and at the same time allows dimension prediction of injection molded parts with real time sensed in-mold conditions.
This paper presents a Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) control strategy for a non-linear 3-DOF helicopter system. The optimal tracking approach yields robustness to both structured (parameter variation) and unstructured (disturbance) uncertainties. First, the 3-DOF helicopter system is linearized around an operating point and its state-space model is derived. Then, the LQR controller is designed. Numerical results show the controller’s robustness and high performance under uncertainties. In comparison with other existing control strategies, the control approach proposed in this paper is a lot more simple, hence its comparison with the PID controller, an equally simple control strategy. To better evaluate the execution and the performance of the LQR control strategy, two quantitative tracking performance metrics are presented; (i) the integral of the tracking errors, and (ii) the integral of the control signals of the system. Comparative results show the prevalence of the proposed strategy, as it achieves the highest tracking accuracy with the lowest control exertion.
We study the Zariski cancellation problem for Poisson algebras in three variables. In particular, we prove those with Poisson bracket either being quadratic or derived from a Lie algebra are cancellative. We also use various Poisson algebra invariants, including the Poisson Makar–Limanov invariant, the divisor Poisson subalgebra, and the Poisson stratiform length, to study the skew cancellation problem for Poisson algebras.
This paper proposes a novel cooperative cruise control strategy to jointly optimize the energy consumption and ride comfort for multiple high‐speed trains. The cooperative control strategy is constructed by combining the consensus algorithm and potential function to achieve the synchronization of train speed and keep a safe tracking interval. A multi‐objective optimal function of multiple high‐speed trains is constituted of cruise following error, energy consumption and ride comfort. The non‐dominated quick sorting algorithm (NSGA‐II) is used to find the global Pareto‐optimal solutions to obtain the optimal cooperative control gains, which achieve the optimal trade‐offs between energy consumption and riding comfort for high‐speed trains. The asymptotic stability of the proposed control strategy is proved strictly. The simulation results verify that the proposed control strategy can effectively reduce energy consumption and improve the riding comfort simultaneously when compared with existing methods.
Efforts to examine barriers to the implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs) have largely focused on community mental health settings, although many people receive mental health services in private practice settings. Clinicians working in private practice likely face unique barriers to EBP implementation, but identifying strategies to increase EBP use in this setting is an understudied area of implementation research. The consolidated framework for implementation research (CFIR) provides an overview of multi-level determinants that influence implementation. The Characteristics of Individuals domain of the CFIR focuses on individual-level implementation determinants, such as perceptions of an intervention and self-efficacy in delivering it. Within the private practice context, little is known about how individual clinicians perceive EBPs and how this might influence their use of them. Thus, this study examined responses from qualitative interviews with 20 private practice clinicians to assess individual-level EBP implementation determinants in this context. Clinicians identified a range of attitudes towards EBPs and described how client factors influence their EBP use. Concerns about EBPs included perceptions that EBPs are too structured, are not generalizable to clinical practice, and are not suitable for a range of client populations. Clinicians also described several barriers and facilitators related to training in EBPs. Clinicians with training in exposure therapy (a well-established, but difficult-to-implement EBP) generally reported more positive attitudes, fewer barriers, and more frequent EBP use. Potential strategies to support EBP implementation in private practice are discussed.
The purpose of this study is to explore Chinese and U.S. athlete self-presentation in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. By examining 1200 photographs posted by Olympians on social media, this study finds that (a) male athletes feature themselves in more revealing clothes than female athletes, (b) Chinese athletes actively show more nationalistic notions compared to their U.S. counterparts, and (c) U.S. female athletes are involved in more subordinating behaviors than Chinese female athletes. This study underlines how the intersection of gender, nationalism, and culture influences athlete social media self-presentation in the global pandemic context. Possible explanations and implications are discussed.
We present a review of the methods behind the top 40 highest accuracies achieved on the ILSVRC 2012 Imagenet validation set as ranked on Papers with Code. A significant proportion of these methods involve using transformer-based architectures, but it should be noted that none of the methods are naïve self-attention transformers, which would be unmanageably large if the tokens were derived on a per-pixel basis. Rather, the works we review here all toil with different methods of combining the global nature of self-attention with the local nature of fine-grained image features, which have historically been the strength of convolutional neural networks. However, it should be noted that 9 out of 22 works reviewed did NOT use transformers.
Purpose: Over the past two decades, healthcare systems have shifted to adopt a more holistic, patient-centered care system. However, operationalization in practice remains challenging. Two frameworks have contributed substantially to the transformation toward more holistic and patient-centered care: the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) and the capability approach (CA). Using these frameworks jointly can contribute to improved patient-centered care in clinical practice. Methods: This article explores the strengths and weaknesses of the use of the two frameworks in care and investigates whether using them jointly might contribute to more appropriate and patient-centered care. We will present a practical example of this integration in the form of a novel e-health application. Results: The exploration indicated that if the frameworks are used jointly, the individual weaknesses can be overcome. The application, used to exemplify the joint use of the frameworks, contains all categories of the ICF. It offers a unique tool that allows a person to self-assess, record, and evaluate their functioning and capabilities and formulate related goals. Conclusions: Using the ICF jointly with the CA can foster holistic, patient-centered care. The e-health application provides a concrete example of how the frameworks can be used jointly. Implications for rehabilitationUsing the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health jointly with the capability approach can foster holistic, patient-centered care.The joint use of the frameworks is demonstrated by an e-health application which enables users to evaluate their functioning in relation to their own goals, provides them with the opportunity to increase control over their health and have a more active role in their care.Tools to record both functioning and goals from a patient's perspective can support professionals in offering patient-centered care in daily practice.Individual recording, monitoring and evaluation of functioning, capabilities and goals regarding functioning can provide a basis for research and quality improvement.
Background Optical sensing solutions are being developed and adopted to classify a wide range of biological objects, including crop seeds. Performance assessment of optical classification models remains both a priority and a challenge. Methods As training data, we acquired hyperspectral imaging data from 3646 individual tomato seeds (germination yes/no) from two tomato varieties. We performed three experimental data manipulations: (1) Object assignment error: effect of individual object in the training data being assigned to the wrong class. (2) Spectral repeatability: effect of introducing known ranges (0–10%) of stochastic noise to individual reflectance values. (3) Size of training data set: effect of reducing numbers of observations in training data. Effects of each of these experimental data manipulations were characterized and quantified based on classifications with two functions [linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and support vector machine (SVM)]. Results For both classification functions, accuracy decreased linearly in response to introduction of object assignment error and to experimental reduction of spectral repeatability. We also demonstrated that experimental reduction of training data by 20% had negligible effect on classification accuracy. LDA and SVM classification algorithms were applied to independent validation seed samples. LDA-based classifications predicted seed germination with RMSE = 10.56 (variety 1) and 26.15 (variety 2), and SVM-based classifications predicted seed germination with RMSE = 10.44 (variety 1) and 12.58 (variety 2). Conclusion We believe this study represents the first, in which optical seed classification included both a thorough performance evaluation of two separate classification functions based on experimental data manipulations, and application of classification models to validation seed samples not included in training data. Proposed experimental data manipulations are discussed in broader contexts and general relevance, and they are suggested as methods for in-depth performance assessments of optical classification models.
Ecosystem governance is a highly contested issue where competing human stakeholder groups wield unequal power over nonhuman species. Pluralistic approaches to ecosystem governance consider a diversity of voices and disciplines to apply translational ecological knowledge to policy. However, the rights, agency, and welfare of nonhuman species – at the abstract (macro) and individual (micro) levels – are rarely considered, distancing nonhumans from human interests. This ‘othering’, results in nonhumans being treated as subservient to humans in power relations, which can result in poor welfare and even death. This study draws on multispecies ethnography, posthumanism, multispecies livelihoods, decolonial ecology, and translational ecology literature to critically review current paradigms in ecosystem governance and questions how to represent nonhumans equitably in ecosystem governance. This essay also considers qualitative data collected during 15 months of a multi-sited, multispecies ethnographic study that explored wolf-human (Canis lupus) relations in the western United States during the Trump Administration. A pluralistic posthumanist wildlife-human coexistence framework for translational ecology is presented that emphasizes nonhumans’ rights, welfare, and agency in ecosystem governance.
Background Given reports of the adverse effects of COVID-19 on adolescent mental health, it is critical to understand how it impacts psychiatrically hospitalized youth who may be particularly vulnerable to its effects. Objective This study aimed to advance our understanding of high-risk adolescents’ experiences of COVID-19, including COVID-19-related stress, changes in daily functioning, and coping as they relate to suicidal ideation (SI). Method Participants were 107 youth (ages 11–18; M = 15.06, SD = 1.79) admitted to an adolescent psychiatric inpatient unit during the time when the initial COVID-19 safety measures (i.e., school closure, stay-at-home- order) and reopening initiatives (Phase I, II, and III) were implemented in Rhode Island between March 13th and July 19th 2020. Adolescents completed measures of COVID-19-related stress, coping, functioning, and SI at the time of admission. Results Nearly half of the sample (43%) reported a negative impact of COVID-19 on daily functioning. Youth who endorsed COVID-19-related decline in functioning evidenced higher levels of SI compared to youth with no change or improvement in functioning due to COVID-19. Overall levels of stress were not associated with SI. Greater coping repertoire, but not the use of specific coping strategies was associated with higher levels of SI. Conclusions Findings demonstrate the importance of examining COVID-19-related changes in functioning and broadening repertoire of coping strategies among adolescents at high risk for SI.
Let X be a continuous or discrete random variable with values in [0,M] and consider all functions (here called transformations) $$q:[0,M]\to [0,\infty )$$ that are increasing and have given bounded rates $$B \le \frac {q(v)-q(u)}{v-u} \le A$$ for u < v. We prove that among such transformations, there is a transformation q that minimizes the Gini index of q(X), and such a q can be chosen as piecewise linear with only two rates, namely A and B. In the motivation for the study, X represents the incomes of a population. Our results imply that among all such tax policies with fixed allowable minimum and maximum tax rates, there is a tax policy that minimizes the Gini index of the disposable incomes of the population and such a tax policy has only two brackets with the given minimum and maximum rates.
This research defines and develops a measure of inconspicuous luxury motivations (ILM). In four studies, we identify items, purify this list, establish reliability, and provide evidence of the validity of the ILM inventory. Study One involved three focus groups. Based on the themes derived from the focus group interviews and from the literature, we developed, tested, and refined the initial ILM inventory with three different surveys involving a student referral sample (Study Two), a college student sample (Study Three), and a national US consumer panel (Study Four). Construct validity was established. The nomological validity of the inventory was tested by looking at the relationships of the ILM dimensions to brand visibility preference, preference toward conspicuous consumption and attitude toward luxury consumption. The result is the nine-item, two-factor ILM inventory: an intrinsic motivation to enjoy privacy in luxury consumption and an extrinsic motivation of being associated with the experienced luxury elite.
There is a notion popular among game designers that it is better to avoid too much hand-holding, and to allow players to figure out what to do and where to go themselves rather than guiding them each step of the way. Flow is the psychological state of “getting in the zone”, of enjoying overcoming a series of optimally challenging goals for the sake of the enjoyment they provide. Flow theory suggests that knowing what to do and where to go next throughout an activity is a flow condition, or a factor that leads to that enjoyable flow state. Is guidance hand-holding that decreases enjoyment or a flow condition that increases enjoyment? Does more guidance increase or decrease enjoyment? Humor and Laughter was identified in a previous card sorting study as a source of enjoyment, but to the best of our knowledge there has yet to be a controlled experiment testing if humor increases enjoyment in games. To address these questions, a controlled experiment with a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design was conducted to test the impact of a Navigational Pointer, a Quest Log, and Humorous NPC Dialog on player Flow and Enjoyment. 314 participants played one of eight versions of a 2D action-adventure RPG custom game and filled out a survey. The Navigational Pointer, an arrow pointing where to go next throughout each step of the game, significantly increased player flow and enjoyment. The Quest Log and Humorous NPC Dialog did not have a significant impact on enjoyment or flow, but were more text-based and less effective than the Navigational Pointer. Implications for designing for enjoyment and flow are discussed.
This study aims to find out EBSCO’s content discoverability rate by Ex Libris’ Central Discovery Index (CDI), under the circumstance that Ex Libris/ProQuest and EBSCO do not share index data with each other. In early 2022, 512 random sample articles were collected from two EBSCO databases, Academic Search Complete and CINAHL. They were searched in Primo by title. 492 (96.09%) EBSCO samples can be found in Primo. Most of the 20 (3.91%) samples not available in Primo are non-journal and non-English items. The uncooperativeness between Ex Libris/ProQuest and EBSCO no longer seems to be a big factor for each other’s discovery service to discover and link to the items in the other party’s electronic collections.
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• Department of Psychology
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• Department of Psychology
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