Performance Reflections on Quality Education in Respect of SDGs: A Re-Assessment of Indian States and UTs Using TOPSIS Approach

The success of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has led to the initiation of Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations, earmarking a time frame of 2016–2030 for its achievement. The Sustainable Development Goals framework consists of 17 goals and 169 targets within the three broader dimensions of economic, social and environmental development. The performance evaluation of Indian states and union territories, available in SDG India Index Baseline Report, 2018, has been recently concluded by NITI Aayog. Focusing on goal 4that puts thrust on quality education, NITI Aayog has considered 7 criteria capturing targets 4.1 besides 4.c and 36 alternatives (Indian states and union territories) within a multi criteria decision making environment where criteria weights are assumed to be equal, performance calculated on the basis of simple arithmetic average theory and missing value cases not considered in their computation. This simplistic approach partially captures the effect of complex interplay between the multiple criterions. The purpose of this paper is to re-evaluate the performance of Indian states and union territories with respect to goal 4of Sustainable Development Goals, as estimated by NITI Aayog. It also aims to provide a more holistic picture on performance ranking by incorporating varying weights of criteria, as obtained from Shannon’s entropy, and replacing arithmetic average theory with a more rigorous mathematical model within the domain of multi criteria decision making. In this study Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution have been used to generate an index for ranking alternatives and all missing values have been figured from expectation maximization algorithm. As expected, rank reversal phenomenon has been observed and a very low level of convergence between ranks obtained from the proposed approach and that of NITI Aayog emerges.

Modelling and Passivity-based Control of a Non-isolated DC-DC Converter in a Fuel Cell System

This paper presents the model of a fuel cell and the design and simulation of a cascade of two DC-DC converters. First, a detailed mathematical model of fuel cell is presented and simulated. Then, a nonlinear model of the whole controlled system is developed and a robust nonlinear controller of currents is synthesized using a passivity-based control. A formal analysis based on Lyapunov stability and average theory is developed to describe the control currents loops performances. A classical PI controller is used for the voltages loops. The simulation models have been developed and tested in the MATLAB/SIMULINK. Simulated results are displayed to validate the feasibility and the effectiveness of the proposed strategy.

Modelling and Passivity-Based Control of a Non Isolated DC-DC Converter in a Fuel Cell System

This paper presents the model of a fuel cell and the design and simulation of a cascade of two DC-DC converters. First, a detailed mathematical model of fuel cell is presented and simulated. Then, a nonlinear model of the whole controlled system is developed and a robust nonlinear controller of currents is synthesized using a passivity-based control. A formal analysis based on Lyapunov stability and average theory is developed to describe the control currents loops performances. A classical PI controller is used for the voltages loops. The simulation models have been developed and tested in the MATLAB / SIMULINK. Simulated results are displayed to validate the feasibility and the effectiveness of the proposed strategy.

Stochastic Finite Element Based Reliability Analysis of Concrete Structures in Marine Environment

The stochastic model of chloride diffusion is the foundation of evaluating concrete structures’ reliability in marine environment. In this paper, the random field of chloride diffusion coefficient was described as a group of random variables by local average theory. The chloride distribution matrix, diffusion matrix and nodal concentration vector were expanded by using the Taylor series. The stochastic finite element method was developed, and the mean and standard deviation of the chloride distribution concentration were yielded by the presented method. A numerical example demonstrated the high precision of the stochastic finite element method presented, and the service life of concrete structures could be predicted by the method.

Comparison and Analysis on Two Improved Detecting Methods for Harmonics without PLL in Single-Phase Circuit

In order to reduce the error of the phase lock-loop (PLL) and compensate the delay of the low pass filter on harmonics detection, In the paper, a detecting-method without PLL in single-phase circuit is researched. In this method, the PLL and LPF are omitted, the feedback and average theory are used, so that the problem of detecting accuracy induced by PLL and real-time induced by LPF is solved. It is testified through comparison, analysis and simulation, that both methods can reduce the latency, improve dynamic response speed, the feedback method can reduce the delay in a dynamic, continuous process, while the average theoretical method can reduce the delay quantitatively.

Prediction of Tensile Modulus of 3D Four-Directional Braided Composites with Transverse Cracks

To a laminate model of 3D four-directional braided composites with periodic transverse cracks, a new normal stress function in weave direction is present. In this function, variations of stress with x and y are considered. By using the principle of minimum complementary energy, stress components in the representative unit are obtained. Tensile modulus of 3D four-directional braided composites with periodic transverse cracks is calculated by utilizing Hashin’s average theory and the principle of minimum complementary energy. To demonstrate the solution, some examples are analyzed.