Reinforcement learning has received much attention in the past decade. The primary thrust of this research has focused on tabula rasa learning methods. That is, the learning agent is initially unaware of its environment and must learn or re-learn everything. We feel that this is neither realistic nor effective. While the agent may start out with little or no knowledge of its environment, it mus...

The purpose of this paper is to present a new double-sided linear primary permanent magnet (PM) vernier (DSLPPMV) machine, which can offer high thrust force, low detent force, and improved power factor. Both PMs and windings of the proposed machine are on the short translator, while the long stator is designed as a double-sided simple iron core with salient teeth so that it is very robust to tr...

The distinctive characteristics of carbon fibre reinforced plastics, like low weight or high specific strength, had broadened their use to new fields. Due to the need of assembly to structures, machining operations like drilling are frequent. In result of composites inhomogeneity, this operation can lead to different damages that reduce mechanical strength of the parts in the connection area. F...

The experimental investigations of the delamination factor of glass fiber reinforced plastic at different cutting parameters are reported in this study. This paper has involved the determination of different factors affecting the hole quality and cause of delamination in a glass fiber reinforced plastic. The various process parameters like different twist drill bits of different materails, diff...

This paper adresses the problem of nonlinear control allocation applied to marine vessels. An energy optimal solution combining a static and a dynamic non-recursive algorithm is proposed. Ships equipped with azimuth (rotatable) and tunnel ((xed) thrusters are considered. The static-solution gives the optimal orientation of the thrust forces corresponding to minimum use of power, whereas the dyn...

The feasibility of using a stand alone Fluidic Thrust-Vectoring (FTV) system for the purpose of longitudinal trim of an unmanned aerial vehicle is the focus of the research presented in this paper. Since the fluidic thrust vectoring requires high pressure secondary air to deflect the engine exhaust gases, this research also provides an analytical toolset for preliminary sizing of a suitable sec...

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of thoracic thrust manipulation vs thoracic non–thrust mobilization in patients with bilateral chronic mechanical neck pain on pressure pain sensitivity and neck pain intensity. Methods: Fifty-two patients (58% were female) were randomly assigned to a thoracic spine thrust manipulation group or of thoracic non–thrust mobilization g...