Complete area coverage navigation (CAC) requires a special type of robot path planning, where the robots should visit every point of the state workspace. CAC is an essential issue for cleaning robots and many other robotic applications. Real-time complete area coverage path planning is desirable for efficient performance in many applications. In this paper, a novel vertical cell-decomposition (VCD) with convex hull (VCD-CH) approach is proposed for real-time CAC navigation of autonomous mobile robots. In this model, a vertical cell-decomposition (VCD) methodology and a spanning-tree based approach with convex hull are effectively integrated to plan a complete area coverage motion for autonomous mobile robot navigation. The computational complexity of this method with minimum trajectory length planned by a cleaning robot in the complete area coverage navigation with rectangle obstacles in the Euclidean space is O(n log n). The performance analysis, computational validation and comparison studies demonstrate that the proposal model is computational efficient, complete and robust.

Abstract Spurred by rapid development of computers and Internet technology, online shopping is gradually overtaking in‐store shopping, because of advantages such as convenience, more choice of products or services etc. Online stores must devote a great deal of time and resources to locating and attracting new customers. Growing a customer base requires first understanding customers and then providing the products or services they need, thus encouraging customers to purchase more. This paper develops a system to analyse customers’ purchasing behaviour and track shifts in their interests. Customers’ purchasing behaviour is measured using proposed standard product loyalty status and standard brand loyalty status. Using these metrics, together with the preference map established for each customer, a marketing specialist can easily locate potential customers to target when a company launches a new product. The new‐product‐launch strategy proposed in this paper can be used to create a list of potential customers for a product being launched under a variety of conditions. A prototype system has been built to test the feasibility of the proposed new‐product‐launch strategy. The result shows almost 40% of potential customers respond to the recommendation positively.

The design and application of an adaptive fuzzy total sliding-mode controller (AFTSC) are addressed in this paper. The proposed control scheme comprises a special fuzzy sliding-mode controller and an adaptive tuner. The former is a main controller, which is designed without reaching phase to retain the merits of a total sliding-mode control approach. Furthermore, a translation width is embedded into the fuzzy inference engine to remedy the chattering phenomena. The adaptive tuner is utilized to adjust the translation width on-line for further assuring robust and optimal performance. To verify the effectiveness, the proposed control scheme is applied to control the tension of a winding process. The computer-controlled winding system includes an electrical servo driven windup reel, a geared speed reducer and a set of pinch rolls. The winding process with the control method possesses the advantages of simple control framework, free from chattering, stable performance and robust to uncertainties. The advantages are indicated in comparison with traditional proportional-integral (PI) control scheme.

Due to the benefit provided by the well-developed infrastructure of the Internet, a growing number of people wish to enroll onto distance learning courses. However, the development of distance learning still faces many challenges, especially in the field of providing appropriate and user-friendly course design tools for the instructor, measuring student learning performance. Moreover, it is hard for an instructor to discern a student's personal needs, such as knowledge level, learning ability, and learning needs. Besides, instructors are required to post all teaching material on the Internet before class starts which may result in the preparation of class material without considering student learning ability. This leads to a slower development of distance learning. We provide a systematic course design tool which is based on the quantitative analysis mechanism we proposed to construct a multidimension and multiadaptive course learning object-oriented model. Furthermore, combining the resource-sharing character of PHP, a course on-demand mechanism can be developed which allows the instructor to provide a different combination of courses for different learning programs.

Web-based distance learning programs are widely available. A few distance education platform and standards were developed or proposed. Among current software systems, it is hard to realize a strategic assessment of courseware quality. Since one of the difficulties of distance education is the load that an instructor needs to spend in courseware design, it is worthy to investigate an automatic mechanism to help an instructor to produce effective courseware. Thus, a distance learning program can proceed efficiently. We develop a mechanism for the construction of courseware structure based on the influence diagram. The mechanism can be implemented as a decision support system for the instructor to analyze the relation among course units and test units. The overall value of a courseware can be systematically analyzed.