No description available.

<p> Many manual tasks such as those in surgical applications require a high degree of motor skills that can only be gained through extensive training. This thesis is concerned with the design and control of collaborative training virtual environments with haptic feedback for skills training. The term "collaborative training" refers to a scheme in which the trainee and the trainer operate in a shared virtual environment. They collaboratively carry out the intended tasks using a shared "virtual tool". In order to enhance the trainee's motor skills, the conventional visual feedback will be augmented by force feedback providing the feel of the task environment as well as active guidance by the expert trainer.</p> <p> First, a set of psychophysics experiments are designed to investigate the usefulness of haptic-enabled collaborative virtual environments for motor skills training. Eighteen volunteers randomly divided between two training and control groups have participated in the experiments. The training group would undergo a number of collaborative training sessions with active help from the trainer whereas the control group would try the task on their own to achieve a set of stated goals. Each of the experiments is designed with specific performance objectives in mind, including trajectory tracking and task completion time. The results of the psychophysics experiments confirm that, when visual feedback is partially impaired, haptic-enabled collaborative training improves learning of a trajectory tracking task. In all the experimental scenarios tested, the results showed improvements in temporal response after receiving training.</p> <p> The second part of the thesis is devoted to the development of a general control framework for the coordination of the users in haptic-enabled collaborative virtual environments. The haptic interface control design is separated from the virtual environment simulation in order to provide more versatility in control strategies for both impedance and admittance-type virtual environments. Adaptive nonlinear controllers are proposed that establish desired linear-time-invariant and/or nonlinear static mappings amongst the users and the virtual task environment positions and forces. These controllers account for the nonlinear model of haptic devices and can handle uncertainties in the haptic devices, the users, and the virtual environment dynamics. First, the tracking behavior of the system is shown via a Lyapunov analysis. Then using a priori known bounds on user and environment parameters, the robust stability of the system is analyzed by employing the Nyquist envelops of interval plants and an off-axis circle criterion. The robust stability analysis provides bounds on the parameter of the linear and nonlinear mappings within which the stability of the system is guaranteed, for all possible system parameters with their a priori given bounds. Experiments carried out with two similar Quanser twin-pantograph haptic devices confirm the effectiveness of the proposed controllers in achieving the performance and stability objectives.</p> / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) is one of the most important welding processes in industrial application. To control metal transfer at given variables is a focus in the field of research and development in welding community. In this dissertation, laser enhanced GMAW is proposed and developed by adding a lower power laser onto the droplet to generate an auxiliary detaching force. The electromagnetic force needed to detach droplets, thus the current that determines this force, is reduced. Wire feed speed, arc voltage, and laser intensity were identified as three major parameters that affect the laser enhanced metal transfer process and a systematic series of experiments were designed and conducted to test these parameters. The behaviors of the laser enhanced metal transfer process observed from high speed images were analyzed using the established physics of metal transfer. In all experiments, the laser was found to affect the metal transfer process as an additional detaching force that tended to change a short-circuiting transfer to drop globular or drop spray, reduce the diameter of the droplet detached in drop globular transfer, or decrease the diameter of the droplet such that the transfer changed from drop globular to drop spray. The enhancement of the laser was found to increase as the laser intensity increased. The larger laser intensity tended to help reduce the size of the droplet detached. The arc voltage affected the metal transfer process through changing the current and changing the gap and possible time interval of the droplet development. A larger arc voltage helped reduce the size of the droplet detached through an increased electromagnetic force. Desired heat input and current/arc pressure waveforms may thus be both delivered and controlled by GMAW through laser enhancement. Laser recoil pressure force was estimated based on the difference of gravitational force with and without laser pulse, and the result was with an acceptable accuracy. Good formation of welds and full penetration of thin plate could be obtained using laser enhanced GMAW. A nonlinear model was established to simulate the dynamic metal transfer in laser enhanced GMAW, and the results agree with the experimental one.

O cenário agrícola nacional tem se tornado cada vez mais competitivo ao longo dos anos, manter o crescimento da produtividade a um baixo custo operacional e com baixo impacto ambiental tem sido os três ingredientes de maior relevância na área. A produtividade por sua vez, é função de várias variáveis, sendo o controle de plantas daninhas uma dessas variáveis a ser considerada. Nesse trabalho é analisado um conjunto de dados de um experimento realizado no departamento de Produção Vegetal da ESALQ-USP, Piracicaba - SP. Foram avaliadas 4 biótipos de capim-pé-de-galinha provenientes de três estados brasileiros e em três estágios morfológicos com 4 repetições para cada biótipo, a variável resposta utilizada foi massa seca (g) e como variável regressora foi utilizada a dose de glyphosate nas concentrações variando de 1/16 D a 16 D mais a testemunha, sem aplicação de herbicida, em que D varia de 480 gramas de equivalente ácido de glyphosate por hectare (g .e a. ha-1) para o estágio de 2 a 3 perfilhos, 720 (g .e a. ha-1) para o estágio de 6 a 8 perfilhos e de 960 para o estágio de 10-12 perfilhos. O trabalho teve como objetivo primário avaliar se, ao longo dos anos, as populações de capim-pé-de-galinha tem se tornado resistentes ao herbicida glyphosate, visando detecção de biótipos resistentes. O experimento foi instalado segundo o delineamento inteiramente aleatorizado, sendo feito em três estágios diferentes. Para a análise dos dados foi utilizado o modelo não-linear log-logístico proposto em Knezevic, S. e Ritz (2007) como método univariado, foi utilizado ainda o método da máxima verossimilhança para verificar a igualdade do parâmetro e. O modelo utilizado convergiu para quase todas as repetições, mas não houve um comportamento sistemático observado que explicasse a não convergência de uma repetição em particular. Num segundo momento, as estimativas dos três parâmetros do modelo foram tomadas como variáveis dependentes em uma análise de variância multivariada. Observando que as três, conjuntamente, foram significativas pelos testes de Pillai, Wilks, Roy e Hotelling-Lawley, foi realizado o teste de Tukey para o mesmo parâmetro e comparado com o primeiro método utilizado. Esse procedimento apresentou, com o mesmo coeficiente de significância, menor capacidade de identificar diferença entre as médias dos parâmetros das variedades de capim do que o método proposto por Regazzi (2015). / The national agricultural scenery has become increasingly competitive over the years, maintaining productivity growth at a low operating cost and low environmental impact has been the three most important ingredients in the area. Productivity in turn is a function of several variables, and the weed control is one of these variables to be considered. In this work it is analyzed a dataset of an experiment conducted in the Plant Production Department of ESALQ-USP, Piracicaba - SP. Were evaluated 4 grass chicken\'s feet biotypes from three Brazilian states in three morphological stages with 4 repetitions for each biotype, the response variable used was dry mass (g) and as regressor variable were used the dose of glyphosate in concentrations ranging from 1/16 D to 16 D plus the control without herbicide, wherein D ranges from 480 grams of glyphosate acid equivalent per hectare (g .e a. ha-1) for 2 to 3 stage tillers, 720 grams of glyphosate acid equivalent per hectare (g .e a. ha-1) for 6 to 8 tillers and 960 for stage 10-12 tillers. The work had as main objective to evaluate , if over the years, populations of grass chicken\'s feet has become resistant to glyphosate, aiming detection of resistant biotypes. The experiment was conducted under completely randomized design being done in three stages. For data analysis was used the non-linear log-logistic proposed in Knezevic, S. e Ritz (2007) as univariate method, it was still used the maximum likelihood method to verify the equality of the parameter e. The model converged to almost all repetitions, but there was an observed systematic behavior to explain the non-convergence of a particular repetition. Secondly, estimates of the three model parameters were taken as dependent variables in a multivariate analysis of variance. Noting that all three together, were significant by Pillai, Wilks, Roy and Hotelling-Lawley tests, was performed Tukey test for the same parameter e and compared with the first method. This procedure presented, with the same coefficient of significance, less able to identify differences between the means of the parameters of grass varieties than the method proposed by Regazzi (2015).

O cenário agrícola nacional tem se tornado cada vez mais competitivo ao longo dos anos, manter o crescimento da produtividade a um baixo custo operacional e com baixo impacto ambiental tem sido os três ingredientes de maior relevância na área. A produtividade por sua vez, é função de várias variáveis, sendo o controle de plantas daninhas uma dessas variáveis a ser considerada. Nesse trabalho é analisado um conjunto de dados de um experimento realizado no departamento de Produção Vegetal da ESALQ-USP, Piracicaba - SP. Foram avaliadas 4 biótipos de capim-pé-de-galinha provenientes de três estados brasileiros e em três estágios morfológicos com 4 repetições para cada biótipo, a variável resposta utilizada foi massa seca (g) e como variável regressora foi utilizada a dose de glyphosate nas concentrações variando de 1/16 D a 16 D mais a testemunha, sem aplicação de herbicida, em que D varia de 480 gramas de equivalente ácido de glyphosate por hectare (g .e a. ha-1) para o estágio de 2 a 3 perfilhos, 720 (g .e a. ha-1) para o estágio de 6 a 8 perfilhos e de 960 para o estágio de 10-12 perfilhos. O trabalho teve como objetivo primário avaliar se, ao longo dos anos, as populações de capim-pé-de-galinha tem se tornado resistentes ao herbicida glyphosate, visando detecção de biótipos resistentes. O experimento foi instalado segundo o delineamento inteiramente aleatorizado, sendo feito em três estágios diferentes. Para a análise dos dados foi utilizado o modelo não-linear log-logístico proposto em Knezevic, S. e Ritz (2007) como método univariado, foi utilizado ainda o método da máxima verossimilhança para verificar a igualdade do parâmetro e. O modelo utilizado convergiu para quase todas as repetições, mas não houve um comportamento sistemático observado que explicasse a não convergência de uma repetição em particular. Num segundo momento, as estimativas dos três parâmetros do modelo foram tomadas como variáveis dependentes em uma análise de variância multivariada. Observando que as três, conjuntamente, foram significativas pelos testes de Pillai, Wilks, Roy e Hotelling-Lawley, foi realizado o teste de Tukey para o mesmo parâmetro e comparado com o primeiro método utilizado. Esse procedimento apresentou, com o mesmo coeficiente de significância, menor capacidade de identificar diferença entre as médias dos parâmetros das variedades de capim do que o método proposto por Regazzi (2015). / The national agricultural scenery has become increasingly competitive over the years, maintaining productivity growth at a low operating cost and low environmental impact has been the three most important ingredients in the area. Productivity in turn is a function of several variables, and the weed control is one of these variables to be considered. In this work it is analyzed a dataset of an experiment conducted in the Plant Production Department of ESALQ-USP, Piracicaba - SP. Were evaluated 4 grass chicken\'s feet biotypes from three Brazilian states in three morphological stages with 4 repetitions for each biotype, the response variable used was dry mass (g) and as regressor variable were used the dose of glyphosate in concentrations ranging from 1/16 D to 16 D plus the control without herbicide, wherein D ranges from 480 grams of glyphosate acid equivalent per hectare (g .e a. ha-1) for 2 to 3 stage tillers, 720 grams of glyphosate acid equivalent per hectare (g .e a. ha-1) for 6 to 8 tillers and 960 for stage 10-12 tillers. The work had as main objective to evaluate , if over the years, populations of grass chicken\'s feet has become resistant to glyphosate, aiming detection of resistant biotypes. The experiment was conducted under completely randomized design being done in three stages. For data analysis was used the non-linear log-logistic proposed in Knezevic, S. e Ritz (2007) as univariate method, it was still used the maximum likelihood method to verify the equality of the parameter e. The model converged to almost all repetitions, but there was an observed systematic behavior to explain the non-convergence of a particular repetition. Secondly, estimates of the three model parameters were taken as dependent variables in a multivariate analysis of variance. Noting that all three together, were significant by Pillai, Wilks, Roy and Hotelling-Lawley tests, was performed Tukey test for the same parameter e and compared with the first method. This procedure presented, with the same coefficient of significance, less able to identify differences between the means of the parameters of grass varieties than the method proposed by Regazzi (2015).

<p>This thesis consists of four papers dealing with estimation and inference for quantile regression of longitudinal data, with an emphasis on nonlinear models. </p><p>The first paper extends the idea of quantile regression estimation from the case of cross-sectional data with independent errors to the case of linear or nonlinear longitudinal data with dependent errors, using a weighted estimator. The performance of different weights is evaluated, and a comparison is also made with the corresponding mean regression estimator using the same weights. </p><p>The second paper examines the use of bootstrapping for bias correction and calculations of confidence intervals for parameters of the quantile regression estimator when longitudinal data are used. Different weights, bootstrap methods, and confidence interval methods are used.</p><p>The third paper is devoted to evaluating bootstrap methods for constructing hypothesis tests for parameters of the quantile regression estimator using longitudinal data. The focus is on testing the equality between two groups of one or all of the parameters in a regression model for some quantile using single or joint restrictions. The tests are evaluated regarding both their significance level and their power.</p><p>The fourth paper analyzes seven longitudinal data sets from different parts of the biostatistics area by quantile regression methods in order to demonstrate how new insights can emerge on the properties of longitudinal data from using quantile regression methods. The quantile regression estimates are also compared and contrasted with the least squares mean regression estimates for the same data set. In addition to looking at the estimates, confidence intervals and hypothesis testing procedures are examined.</p>

In this paper we present an approach to the nonlinear model reduction based on representing the nonlinear system with a piecewise-linear system and then reducing each of the pieces with a Krylov projection. However, rather than approximating the individual components to make a system with exponentially many different linear regions, we instead generate a small set of linearizations about the state trajectory which is the response to a 'training input'. Computational results and performance data are presented for a nonlinear circuit and a micromachined fixed-fixed beam example. These examples demonstrate that the macromodels obtained with the proposed reduction algorithm are significantly more accurate than models obtained with linear or the recently developed quadratic reduction techniques. Finally, it is shown tat the proposed technique is computationally inexpensive, and that the models can be constructed 'on-the-fly', to accelerate simulation of the system response. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

This thesis consists of four papers dealing with estimation and inference for quantile regression of longitudinal data, with an emphasis on nonlinear models. The first paper extends the idea of quantile regression estimation from the case of cross-sectional data with independent errors to the case of linear or nonlinear longitudinal data with dependent errors, using a weighted estimator. The performance of different weights is evaluated, and a comparison is also made with the corresponding mean regression estimator using the same weights. The second paper examines the use of bootstrapping for bias correction and calculations of confidence intervals for parameters of the quantile regression estimator when longitudinal data are used. Different weights, bootstrap methods, and confidence interval methods are used. The third paper is devoted to evaluating bootstrap methods for constructing hypothesis tests for parameters of the quantile regression estimator using longitudinal data. The focus is on testing the equality between two groups of one or all of the parameters in a regression model for some quantile using single or joint restrictions. The tests are evaluated regarding both their significance level and their power. The fourth paper analyzes seven longitudinal data sets from different parts of the biostatistics area by quantile regression methods in order to demonstrate how new insights can emerge on the properties of longitudinal data from using quantile regression methods. The quantile regression estimates are also compared and contrasted with the least squares mean regression estimates for the same data set. In addition to looking at the estimates, confidence intervals and hypothesis testing procedures are examined.

This thesis proposes a model reduction technique for nonlinear dynamical systems based upon combining Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) and a new method, called the Discrete Empirical Interpolation Method (DEIM). The popular method of Galerkin projection with POD basis reduces dimension in the sense that far fewer variables are present, but the complexity of evaluating the nonlinear term generally remains that of the original problem. DEIM, a discrete variant of the approach from [11], is introduced and shown to effectively overcome this complexity issue. State space error estimates for POD-DEIM reduced systems are also derived. These [Special characters omitted.] error estimates reflect the POD approximation property through the decay of certain singular values and explain how the DEIM approximation error involving the nonlinear term comes into play. An application to the simulation of nonlinear miscible flow in a 2-D porous medium shows that the dynamics of a complex full-order system of dimension 15000 can be captured accurately by the POD-DEIM reduced system of dimension 40 with a factor of [Special characters omitted.] (1000) reduction in computational time.

Interaction and marginal effects are often an important concern, especially when variables are allowed to interact in a nonlinear model. In a linear model, the interaction term, representing the interaction effect, is the impact of a variable on the marginal effect of another variable. In a nonlinear model, however, the marginal effect of the interaction term is different from the interaction effect. This report provides a general derivation of both effects in a nonlinear model and a linear model to clearly illustrate the difference. These differences are then demonstrated with empirical data. The empirical study shows that the corrected interaction effect in an ordered logit or probit model is substantially different from the incorrect interaction effect produced by the margins command in Stata. Based on the correct formulas, this report verifies that the interaction effect is not the same as the marginal effect of the interaction term. Moreover, we must be careful when interpreting the nonlinear models with interaction terms in Stata or any other statistical software package. / text