Application of a transversal laguerre network in adaptive equalization

Synchronous data transmission systems that transmit information over dispersive channels often employ adaptive equalization techniques in the processing of the received signals. Most equalizers presently used in communication systems are of the tapped delay line (TDL) type. In this paper, we propose a class of adaptive equalizers of which the TDL equalizer is a member. Another interesting member of this class is the Laguerre adaptive equalizer which is to be introduced in this paper. The configuration of the Laguerre equalizer is developed. It is found, as shown by the examples, that the Laguerre equalizer is more accurate, and is less sensitive to timing error than the conventional TDL equalizer.     

Transform domain technique for windowing the DCT and DST

In this paper, an algorithm is developed to apply Hann, Hamming, Blackman and related windows directly in the transform domain for the discrete cosine transform and discrete sine transform. These algorithms are useful in applications where windowing is required in order to minimize edge effects caused by implicit symmetries in the transform domain that are not replicated in the real-world data. Examples of such applications include data communication, adaptive system identification and filtering, real-time analysis of financial market data, etc. Software implementations in C language are also given.     

Poststructural feminist pedagogy in English instruction of vocational-and-technical education

The purpose of this study was to develop a poststructural feminist pedagogical model and to investigate whether vocational-and-technical college students receiving poststructural feminist instruction would exhibit better learning achievement and critical thinking ability, and express greater satisfaction with their classes than those receiving traditional instruction. In applying a poststructural feminist model, the researchers intended to help both the teacher and students work together to overcome the estrangement and alienation that have long been the norm in the contemporary Chinese education system. The research results show that the poststructural feminist pedagogy had a positive effect upon the participants in the experimental group. Several conclusions are elicited from the study. First, in the English language achievement post-test, the participants receiving the poststructural feminist instruction significantly outperformed those receiving the traditional banking instruction in terms of listening, vocabulary, grammar, and reading. Second, in the critical thinking ability post-test, the participants significantly outperformed those receiving the traditional banking instruction in terms of length, focus, content, organization, and style. Third, in regard to the students’ satisfaction, it was clearly shown that the students who received the instruction informed by poststructural feminist pedagogy expressed significantly greater satisfaction than those who had received traditional banking instruction in terms of instructional objective, teaching method/materials, teacher quality, class environment, and assessment.     

A novel control Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional methodology for simultaneous stabilization of a set of multiple time-delays nonlinear systems

This paper considers the simultaneous stabilization of a set of nonlinear systems, that involve uncertain nonlinearities besides multiple time-varying delays in the states. Under the assumption that the upper bounds of delays are known, a memoryless simultaneously stabilizing state feedback controller is presented by proposing a control Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional (CL-KF) method. As required to establish the CL-KF approach, a systematic procedure is given to construct CL-KFs for the systems under consideration. By the obtained CL-KFs, a common stabilizing state feedback control law is established to drive all the systems to the origin. Examples are finally given to verify the benefit of the proposed design method.     

基于互联网社区的消费者需求信息采集策略

从互联网社区参与者角色--社区建设者、主题发布者、话题讨论者出发,提出企业在互联网社区上采集消费者需求信息的基本方针,分析在互联网社区上消费者需求信息表现形式的转化过程,构建在互联网社区上采集消费者需求信息的具体路线,以此为企业制定在互联网社区上采集消费者需求信息策略提供借鉴。     

高校学报稿件外审的作用与实践效果

专家审稿是保证学术期刊学术质量的重要环节。高校学报的专家审稿长期以来多以校内选聘专家为主,但学报稿件内审和外审效果大不一样。高校学报与专业性期刊既有相同的期刊属性又有自己的不同特点。高校学报在办刊宗旨、稿件来源、编辑队伍组成等方面不同于专业性期刊的这些特点,使得学报稿件外审更加重要。尤其是在选聘校外“小同行”专家审稿的条件下,学报稿件外审有利于客观公正地录用稿件,有利于促进学校科研的发展,有利于提高研究生的培养质量,有利于推进师资队伍建设。《青岛科技大学学报（自然科学版）》多年的实践作出了诠释。     

Bandpass sorting of heterogeneous cells using a single surface acoustic wave transducer pair

Separation and sorting of biological entities (viruses, bacteria, and cells) is a critical step in any microfluidic lab-on-a-chip device. Acoustofluidics platforms have demonstrated their ability to use physical characteristics of cells to perform label-free separation. Bandpass-type sorting methods of medium-sized entities from a mixture have been presented using acoustic techniques; however, they require multiple transducers, lack support for various target populations, can be sensitive to flow variations, or have not been verified for continuous flow sorting of biological cells. To our knowledge, this paper presents the first acoustic bandpass method that overcomes all these limitations and presents an inherently reconfigurable technique with a single transducer pair for stable continuous flow sorting of blood cells. The sorting method is first demonstrated for polystyrene particles of sizes 6, 10, and 14.5 μm in diameter with measured purity and efficiency coefficients above 75 ± 6% and 85 ± 9%, respectively. The sorting strategy was further validated in the separation of red blood cells from white blood cells and 1 μm polystyrene particles with 78 ± 8% efficiency and 74 ± 6% purity, respectively, at a flow rate of at least 1 μl/min, enabling to process finger prick blood samples within minutes.     

Optimum calibration of a parallel kinematic manipulator using digital indicators

This paper presents a calibration method for parallel manipulators using a measurement system specially installed on an external fixed frame. The external fixed frame is important as an error reference for calibration in certain operations, such as in the configuration of a parallel manip- ulator functioning as a machine tool where the workpiece is fixed to a worktable. The pose of the end-effector is mea- sured using three digital indicators installed on the external fixed frame. To enable measurement, the end-effector is assumed to be a plane large enough that all digital indicators could touch. The error is defined as the difference between the theoretical and actual readings of the digital indicators. The geometric parameters of the parallel manipulator are optimized to minimize this error. This calibration method is low cost and feasible for compensating geometric parameter errors for a parallel manipulator. Optimal pose selection for the calibration is achieved using a swarm intelligence search algorithm. The method is implemented on a prototype of a six degrees-of-freedom （DOFs） Gough-Stewart platform constructed to function as a machine tool.     

Student learning performance in online collaborative learning

Education and Information Technologies - Online collaborative learning (OCL) has received significant attention, but the ultimate goal of adopting OCL is neglected, especially in higher education...