0000000000121390
AUTHOR
Pedro Albertos
Control Structures in Motivational Psychology
Abstract Motivational processes in psychology have been interpreted from many different viewpoints. In the general case, they present an information feedback structure, with goals and disturbances, in a similar way most control systems behave. In this contribution, this similarity is analysed and examples of motivational processes corresponding to the most common control system structures are given. This comparison will be fruitful from both sides: to explore a new field of control theory application and to provide a new framework to the analysis of these complex processes.
Robustness with Respect to Delay Uncertainties of a Predictor-Observer Based Discrete-Time Controller
This paper focuses on the delay-dependent stability problem of a discrete-time prediction scheme to stabilize possible unstable continuous-time systems. The delay-dependent stability condition is expressed in terms of LMIs. The separation principle between the proposed predictor and a state observer is also proved. The closed-loop system is shown to be robust with respect to uncertainties in the knowledge on the plant parameters, the delay and the sampling period. The proposed scheme has been tested in a real-time application to control the roll angle in a prototype of a quad-rotor mini-helicopter.
Equal Opportunities Analysis in the University: The Gender Perspective
The social systems’ complexity is a consequence of the human presence. Measurements and evaluations are rather qualitative and, in many cases, heuristic and / or linguistic. Human beings are not equally treated, with a clear discrimination based on age, gender, race or culture, among many other reasons. Women discrimination is the focus of our study in this paper. The university, as a social system, is investigated. The goal is to determine the degree of gender discrimination and to provide the tools to evaluate different actions to improve the equal opportunity (EO) principle in its operation.
An Application of Iterative Identification and Control in the Robotics Field
The plant model appropriate for designing the control strongly depends on the requirements. Simple models are enough to compute nondemanding controls. The parameters of well-defined structural models of flexible robot manipulators are difficult to determine because their effect is only visible if the manipulator is under strong actions or with high-frequency excitation. Thus, in this chapter, an iterative approach is suggested. This approach is applied to a one-degree-of-freedom flexible robot manipulator, first using some well-known models and then controlling a lab prototype. This approach can be used with a variety of control design and/or identification techniques.