Moving horizon estimation for multirate systems with time-varying time-delays

This paper presents a moving horizon estimation approach for the multirate sampled-data system with unknown time-delay sequence. To estimate the unknown variables of interest, two main challenging issues need to be addressed: (a) synthesizing the multirate input and output data for state estimation, (b) simultaneously estimating the continuous state and discrete time-delay sequence. In this work a moving horizon estimation based approach is developed to tackle these issues. The proposed approach can simultaneously estimate both the continuous states and discrete time-delay sequence for dynamic systems. The effects of different noise level on the estimation of continuous states and discrete time-delay sequence are analyzed. The effectiveness of this method is illustrated through a simulation study.     

HCMU度量的特征1-形式

HCMU度量是一种在Riemann面上带奇点的extremal度量. 它可以被一个亚纯1-形式所刻划. 文章给出这个亚纯1-形式的一些重要性质. 作为应用,将证明一个HCMU度量的高斯曲率光滑的充要条件.     

Doing feminist difference differently: intersectional pedagogical practices in the context of the neoliberal diversity regime

At present there is a small, albeit growing, body of literature on pedagogical strategies and reflections which addresses the ways educators attempt to challenge the effects of neoliberalism on higher education. In this article, we reflect upon our pedagogical practices in higher education in this moment of neoliberal transformation wherein, as Sirma Bilge notes, intersectionality is being ‘undone’ in academic feminism. As graduate students teaching in Toronto, Canada, we describe how our commitment to social justice pedagogy works against this ‘undoing’ of intersectionality by embracing vulnerability, discomfort and the possibility of conflict in classrooms that do not simply accommodate, celebrate or include difference. Given that neoliberal renderings of diversity obscure and reinforce unequal relations of power, we demonstrate how we attend to these power relations, particularly racism which is salient to our teaching context, by employing intersectionality as a pedagogical practice and a political intervention to advance social justice.     

Comparisons of two statistical approaches to study growth curves: The multilevel model and the latent curve analysis

This article compares two statistical approaches for modeling growth across time. The two statistical approaches are the multilevel model (MLM) and latent curve analysis (LCA), which have been proposed to depict change or growth adequately. These two approaches were compared in terms of the estimation of growth profiles represented by the parameters of initial status and the rate of growth. A longitudinal data set obtained from a school‐based substance‐use prevention trial for adolescents was used to illustrate the similarities and differences between the two approaches. The results indicated that the two approaches yielded very compatible results. The parameter estimates associated with regression weights are the same, whereas those associated with variances and covariances are similar. The MLM approach is easier for model specification and is more efficient computationally in yielding results. The LCA approach, however, has the advantage of providing model evaluation, that is, an overall test of goodness of fit, and is more flexible in modeling and hypothesis testing as demonstrated in this study.     

The impact of SSCI and SCI on Taiwan’s academy: an outcry for fair play

The increasing importance of the competition in global university ranking has resulted in a paradigm shift in academic governance in East Asia. Many governments have introduced different strategies for benchmarking their leading universities to facilitate global competitiveness and international visibility. A major trend in the changing university governance is the emergence of a regulatory evaluation scheme for faculty research productivity, reflected by the striking features of the recent changing academic profile of publication norms and forms that go beyond the territories of nation-states in the East and West. With the expansion of the Taiwanese higher education system in the last two decades, the maintenance of quality to meet the requirements for international competitiveness has become a key concern for policy makers. Since 2005, the Ministry of Education has introduced a series of university governance policies to enhance academic excellence in universities and established a formal university evaluation policy to improve the competitiveness and international visibility of Taiwanese universities. In so doing, the government has legalized a clear link between evaluation results and public funding allocation. Research performance is assessed in terms of the number of articles published in journals indexed by the Science Citation Index (SCI), the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), and the Arts and Humanities Citation Index and in terms of citation rates and associated factors. Therefore, evaluation has taken on a highly quantitative dimension. Despite the efforts of concerned parties to encourage academic excellence, the abovementioned quantitative evaluation indicators have resulted in bitter complaints from the humanities and social sciences, whose research accomplishments are devalued and ignored by the current quantitative indicators. In this paper, the authors describe the recent petition for collective action initiated by university faculty to protest the privileging of SSCI and SCI publications as critical indicators for academic performance regardless of faculty discipline and specialization. The article concludes its argument with a group petition calling for more diverse and reliable indicators in recognizing the research of different natures and disciplines while creating culturally responsive evaluation criteria for social sciences and humanities in the Taiwanese academe. The article not only sheds light on academic evaluation literature, especially on the uncertain paradox of globalization and market economy, but also proposes alternatives to the evaluation system for humanities and social sciences in higher education.     

可视化在实验教学中的应用初探

针对传统的工程流体力学实验教学模式存在的弊端,提出了可视化这一实验教学的新模式,并进一步阐述了其具体内容和应用,确认了这种实验教学模式的科学性、实用性。     

The Effect of Metacognitive Scaffolds on Low Achievers’ Laboratory Learning

This study explored the influence of experimental goal setting and planning on the attitudes toward science, self-efficacy, inquiry performance, and achievement of students with low academic performance. A total of 71 students aged 16–18 were randomly divided into a treatment group (with goal setting and planning) and a control group (without goal setting and planning). A microcomputer-based laboratory focused on Boyle’s Law, coupled with an inquiry worksheet, was assigned. Based on Winne and Hadwin’s model of self-regulated learning, scaffolding was offered to the treatment group to promote goal setting and planning. Data were collected from the worksheet, the Attitudes toward Science Scale, the Self-efficacy of Scientific Inquiry scale, and the Boyle’s Law Conceptual Test. The results showed that both the treatment and control groups improved significantly from the pre- to post-conceptual tests. In the treatment group, the male students gained significantly more conceptual knowledge than the female students. Regarding attitudes toward science, the male students’ scores on the post-test were higher than those of the females. It is concluded that the male students were more positive regarding goal setting and planning in the inquiry activity, whereas the female students did not benefit as much.     

Fitzgerald和她的悲剧人生哲学

Fitzgerald was one of the great stylists in American literature.This essay discussed how he formed a tragic philosophy of life from his life experience and how can he reflect this kind of philosophy of life in his masterpiece,.     

Predicting self-efficacy in test preparation: Gender,value, anxiety,test performance,and strategies

Considerable evidence indicates that self-efficacy, task value, anxiety, and the use of language learning strategies are related. However, there is currently an insufficient understanding about their relations in high-stakes testing contexts. The author aimed to investigate how well social factors, test value, anxiety, test performance, and learning strategies predict high school students' self-efficacy in preparing for the English listening test as part of the University Entrance Examination in Taiwan. This research involved a large-scale questionnaire survey and a collection of students' English test scores. The participants were 636 students in Grade 12 of high school in Taiwan. A quantitative analysis of the questionnaire was conducted via hierarchical regression analysis. The results show that students' recent English test performance and test anxiety were two strong predictors of self-efficacy in preparing for the high-stakes test. In addition, resource management and metacognitive listening strategies had better predictive power over prior English level and test value.