M. Silva Significant changes have been occurring in industrialized countries since the Second World War. Production is moving towards sophisticated high qUality products, economy of scale has been replaced by economy of scope, jerky demands are progressively replacing steady demands, and competi tiveness is becoming a worldwide phenomenon. These trends require highly automated manufacturing systems with small set-up times and high flex ibility. As a consequence, implementation and running costs of modem manufacturing systems are drastically increasing, whereas their fields of application remain limited, and every day become even narrower, which increases the risk of early obsolescence. This is the reason why designers are trying to improve the preliminary design phase, also known as the 'paper study phase'. The preliminary design phase includes, but is not limited to, the func tional specification, and the evaluation of the system. Many tools exist to support the functional specification of manufactur ing systems. IDEFO is one of these tools. It leads, using a top-down ap proach, to a precise functional description of the required system. However, its use cannot be extended further. In general, the evaluation starts with a modeling step, which depends on the evaluation tool used, and ends by applying the model to find out its main dynamic characteristics. Two main approaches can be used to perform this task, namely simulation and math ematical approach. Using simulation, the modeling tool is either a classical computer language, or a simulation language.
Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling by Bruno Castanho Silva, Constantin Manuel Bosancianu, and Levente Littvay serves as a minimally technical overview of multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) for applied researchers and advanced graduate students in the social sciences. As the first book of its kind, this title is an accessible, hands-on introduction for beginners of the topic. The authors predict a growth in this area, fueled by both data availability and also the availability of new and improved software to run these models. The applied approach, combined with a graphical presentation style and minimal reliance on complex matrix algebra guarantee that this volume will be useful to social science graduate students wanting to utilize such models.
In Economic Growth and Democracy in Post-Colonial Africa: Cabo Verde, Small States, and the World Economy, edited by João Resende-Santos and Aminah Fernandes Pilgrim, the contributors provide a comprehensive academic analysis of the political economy of Cabo Verde (Cabo Verde) from its independence in 1975 to the present. Democracy and economic growth have been in short supply in post-colonial Africa. Yet the widespread misperception of this vast and diverse continent as experiencing only failure has overshadowed cases of good governance, human development, and social peace. This volume offers a comprehensive analytical narrative on how Cabo Verde (Cape Verde) forged a nation and navigated the world system since independence to achieve some progress. The volume critically examines its political and institutional evolution, foreign affairs, economy, and development policy. The chapters analyze the sources and nature of this relative success as well as underscore the many shortcomings and challenges ahead. As the first volume in English on Cabo Verde’s political economy, it serves as both a primary source and sociopolitical study, featuring some of the most accomplished scholars and policy practitioners. This collection aims to fill this gap in the literature and offers a new perspective on democracy and growth in post-colonial Africa.
As a consequence of social, technological, political and economic changes, the field of organizations management and engineering becomes highly complex, calling for more effective strategies. In this book, the authors discuss innovative technological resources and their implications on organizational policies, strategies, and flexibility, as well as on sustainable management.
This textbook presents theory and practice in the context of automatic control education. It presents the relevant theory in the first eight chapters, applying them later on to the control of several real plants. Each plant is studied following a uniform procedure: a) the plant’s function is described, b) a mathematical model is obtained, c) plant construction is explained in such a way that the reader can build his or her own plant to conduct experiments, d) experiments are conducted to determine the plant’s parameters, e) a controller is designed using the theory discussed in the first eight chapters, f) practical controller implementation is performed in such a way that the reader can build the controller in practice, and g) the experimental results are presented. Moreover, the book provides a wealth of exercises and appendices reviewing the foundations of several concepts and techniques in automatic control. The control system construction proposed is based on inexpensive, easy-to-use hardware. An explicit procedure for obtaining formulas for the oscillation condition and the oscillation frequency of electronic oscillator circuits is demonstrated as well.
This book analyses trade unions’ capacities of resistance following the period of austerity and “bailout crisis” in Portugal (2011-2015). Considering the destructive impacts of those policies on the working class and their unions, it explores three case studies in three productive sectors: the metal sector (Autoeuropa/VW); the telecommunications sector (PT-Telecom/Altice); and the transport sector (TAP – Air Portugal). In order to gather empirical information, the study uses qualitative methods, such as in-depth interviews and focus groups. The book shows that social dumping, brutal unemployment growth, increasing poverty levels, spreading precariousness, wage cuts and labour rights suppression were some of the consequences of this period on the working class and trade unions. Drawing on the “power resources” theoretical approach, it shows how trade unions were able to react and “reinvent” themselves in terms of certain forms of power, while others “imploded” or were relegated to a marginal role.
The end of the story in 'The Force Unleashed' left the Star Wars galaxy poised at the brink of civil war. But, before that can happen, the Emperor and his apprentice, Darth Vader, have another plan already in play.
This book introduces the ultimate performance analysis tool (uPATO) as a new software to compute social network metrics in the scope of team sports analysis. The reader will identify the algorithms to test the general properties of the team, the co-dependencies and the centrality levels of players, i.e. to evaluate the individual, sub-group, and team performance analysis. As uPATO tool implements the metrics for all options, namely for unweighted graphs, weighted graphs, unweighted digraphs and weighted digraphs, it is also useful for network analysis into other areas beyond team sports. The book assists the reader to compute the metrics and to use it in different scenarios.
This book introduces a passivity-based approach which simplifies the controller design task for AC-motors. It presents the application of this novel approach to several classes of AC motors, magnetic levitation systems, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and rigid robot manipulators actuated by AC motors. The novel passivity-based approach exploits the fact that the natural energy exchange existing between the mechanical and the electrical subsystems allows the natural cancellation of several high order terms during the stability analysis. This allows the authors to present some of the simplest controllers proposed in scientific literature, but provided with formal stability proofs. These simple control laws will be of use to practitioners as they are robust with respect to numerical errors and noise amplification, and are provided with tuning guidelines. Energy-based Control of Electromechanical Systems is intended for both theorists and practitioners. Therefore, the stability proofs are not based on abstract mathematical ideas but Lyapunov stability theory. Several interpretations of the proofs are given along the body of the book using simple energy ideas and the complete proofs are included in appendices. The complete modeling of each motor studied is also presented, allowing for a thorough understanding. Advances in Industrial Control reports and encourages the transfer of technology in control engineering. The rapid development of control technology has an impact on all areas of the control discipline. The series offers an opportunity for researchers to present an extended exposition of new work in all aspects of industrial control.
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