An Optimization Design of Adaptive Cruise Control System Based on MPC and ADRC

In this paper, a novel adaptive cruise control (ACC) algorithm based on model predictive control (MPC) and active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) is proposed. This paper uses an MPC algorithm for the upper controller of the ACC system. Through comprehensive considerations, the upper controller will output desired acceleration to the lower controller. In addition, to increase the accuracy of the predictive model in the MPC controller and to address fluctuations in the vehicle’s acceleration, an MPC aided by predictive estimation of acceleration is proposed. Due to the uncertainties of vehicle parameters and the road environment, it is difficult to establish an accurate vehicle dynamic model for the lower-level controller to control the throttle and brake actuators. Therefore, feed-forward control based on a vehicle dynamic model (VDM) and compensatory control based on ADRC is used to enhance the control precision and to suppress the influence of internal or external disturbance. Finally, the proposed optimal design of the ACC system was validated in road tests. The results show that ACC with APE can accurately control the tracking of the host vehicle with less acceleration fluctuation than that of the traditional ACC controller. Moreover, when the mass of the vehicle and the slope of the road is changed, the ACC–APE–ADRC controller is still able to control the vehicle to quickly and accurately track the desired acceleration.

Neural control of rhythmic limb motion is shaped by size and speed

Over many size and time scales, behaviors such as locomotion or feeding require mechanical movements. Size and time in turn determine a behavior’s dominant mechanical properties: mass, stiffness or viscous damping. The constraints for limbed behaviors can thus be quantified by two variables: limb size and limb speed, defining a ‘mechanics space’ that shows the relative magnitude of each mechanical property for animals ranging from fruit fly to elephant. The mechanics space has three distinct regions: 1) an inertia-dominated region; 2) a gravity or elastic-force-dominated region; and 3) a viscous-force-dominated region. In the mass-dominated region, associated with large limbs moving rapidly, muscle work is translated into primarily kinetic energy. Thus, stable motion requires compensatory control and active damping. In the elastic-force-dominated region, associated with small limbs moving slowly, muscle energy is translated into primarily gravitational or elastic potential energy. Thus, compensatory control and active damping are unnecessary. Lastly, in the viscous region, associated with small limbs moving quickly, joint viscosity acts to damp actuation, resulting in exclusively stable movements. Control and stability of a limb thus depends almost entirely on the size and speed of limb movement, and this has fundamental implications for neural control.

“The Looming, Crazy Stalker Coronavirus”: Fear Mongering, Fake News, and the Diffusion of Distrust

The authors explore media distrust among a sample of precarious and gig workers interviewed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although these left-leaning respondents initially increased their media consumption at the outset of the pandemic, they soon complained of media sensationalism and repurposed a readily available cultural tool: claims of “fake news.” As a result, these unsettled times have resulted in a “diffusion of distrust,” in which an elite conservative discourse of skepticism toward the media has also become a popular form of compensatory control among self-identified liberals. Perceiving “fake news” and media sensationalism as “not good” for their mental health, respondents also reported experiencing media burnout and withdrawing from media consumption. As the pandemic passes its one-year anniversary, this research has implications for long-term media coverage on COVID-19 and ongoing media trust and consumption.

The Challenges of Military Veterans in Their Transition to the Workplace: A Call for Integrating Basic and Applied Psychological Science

Long-standing structural features of the military have created a culture and society that is dramatically different and disconnected from civilian society. Thus, veterans transitioning to civilian society face a number of challenges related to fulfilling basic psychological needs (e.g., need for structure and order, belonging) and civilians’ reliance on stereotypes to understand military veterans. In an attempt to enrich the understanding of these challenges, we integrate social psychological theories and insights with research from sociology, clinical psychology, military psychology, and organizational behavior. Theories of compensatory control, stereotype threat, and stereotyping are drawn on to help explain the psychological challenges that veterans may encounter during their transition to civilian society. We present recent research that leverages these theories to understand issues veterans face. This theoretical integration illustrates the opportunity and potential for psychological researchers to conduct basic and applied research in the context of veterans and for clinicians and managers to draw on basic theory to inform programs and interventions.

The Bright Sides of Sadness in Late Life

Sadness is often thought of as unpleasant and dysfunctional. Yet, evolutionary-functionalist approaches and discrete emotional aging frameworks suggest that sadness is an emotion that helps us deal with loss and thus may become particularly salient and adaptive in late life. This talk presents findings from a multi-study, multi-method research program using age-diverse samples and experimental and longitudinal study designs. Findings show (1) intact or elevated levels of sadness responding in late life (i.e., higher sadness expressions in response to distressing film clips; higher coherence between sad facial expressions and autonomic physiology in response to film clips depicting loss; stability in sadness behaviors in marital conflict interactions). Moreover, (2) higher levels of sadness responding are linked to adaptive outcomes in late life (i.e., higher social connectedness, higher compensatory control strategies) with some effects generalizing across age groups (i.e., links between sadness coherence and well-being). Implications for future research are discussed.

Expatriate Consumers’ Adaptations and Food Brand Choices: A Compensatory Control Perspective

The number of expatriates has been steadily growing during the last two decades. For these reasons, academia has exhibited a growing research interest in expatriates’ food consumption choices. Although interest is there, the extant literature is inconclusive about conditions under which expatriate consumers make trade-offs between host-country (local) and global food products and brands. The present study presents mechanisms that explain expatriate consumers’ compensatory coping behaviors and choices between local versus global food brands. By drawing on compensatory control theory and the person–environment fit framework, the authors test the influence of adaptation efforts and retail system properties on expatriate consumers’ food brand choices. Survey findings from 232 expatriates who currently live in five Middle Eastern countries reveal that a higher engagement in adaptation efforts (acculturation and general adjustment) leads to a dominant preference for local (vs. global) food brands. Moreover, this study illuminates the importance of retail system properties by showing that a host country’s retail system development positively moderates the relationship between adaptation efforts and local food brand choices, whereas retail similarity has a negative impact.

The estimation of aircraft control system stability boundaries by the describing function method

In this paper, the conditions for periodic modes formation in the closed-loop pilot-vehicle system in the compensatory control mode are established. The case of high gain pilot task is considered under the conditions of a sudden disturbance, as well as under the influence of the system nonlinearities, such as actuator position and rate limit. Sinusoidal input describing function method and parametric resonance equation were used to determine the onset conditions for self-oscillations and forced oscillations. The case when this methods lead to erroneous results is established. The numerical limits of permissible pilot gain, time delay and reference signal at which unstable periodic modes do not arise are calculated.