The performance index
\\n\\n
IntechOpen Book Series will also publish a program of research-driven Thematic Edited Volumes that focus on specific areas and allow for a more in-depth overview of a particular subject.
\\n\\nIntechOpen Book Series will be launching regularly to offer our authors and editors exciting opportunities to publish their research Open Access. We will begin by relaunching some of our existing Book Series in this innovative book format, and will expand in 2022 into rapidly growing research fields that are driving and advancing society.
\\n\\nLaunching 2021
\\n\\nArtificial Intelligence, ISSN 2633-1403
\\n\\nVeterinary Medicine and Science, ISSN 2632-0517
\\n\\nBiochemistry, ISSN 2632-0983
\\n\\nBiomedical Engineering, ISSN 2631-5343
\\n\\nInfectious Diseases, ISSN 2631-6188
\\n\\nPhysiology (Coming Soon)
\\n\\nDentistry (Coming Soon)
\\n\\nWe invite you to explore our IntechOpen Book Series, find the right publishing program for you and reach your desired audience in record time.
\\n\\nNote: Edited in October 2021
\\n"}]',published:!0,mainMedia:{caption:"",originalUrl:"/media/original/132"}},components:[{type:"htmlEditorComponent",content:'With the desire to make book publishing more relevant for the digital age and offer innovative Open Access publishing options, we are thrilled to announce the launch of our new publishing format: IntechOpen Book Series.
\n\nDesigned to cover fast-moving research fields in rapidly expanding areas, our Book Series feature a Topic structure allowing us to present the most relevant sub-disciplines. Book Series are headed by Series Editors, and a team of Topic Editors supported by international Editorial Board members. Topics are always open for submissions, with an Annual Volume published each calendar year.
\n\nAfter a robust peer-review process, accepted works are published quickly, thanks to Online First, ensuring research is made available to the scientific community without delay.
\n\nOur innovative Book Series format brings you:
\n\nIntechOpen Book Series will also publish a program of research-driven Thematic Edited Volumes that focus on specific areas and allow for a more in-depth overview of a particular subject.
\n\nIntechOpen Book Series will be launching regularly to offer our authors and editors exciting opportunities to publish their research Open Access. We will begin by relaunching some of our existing Book Series in this innovative book format, and will expand in 2022 into rapidly growing research fields that are driving and advancing society.
\n\nLaunching 2021
\n\nArtificial Intelligence, ISSN 2633-1403
\n\nVeterinary Medicine and Science, ISSN 2632-0517
\n\nBiochemistry, ISSN 2632-0983
\n\nBiomedical Engineering, ISSN 2631-5343
\n\nInfectious Diseases, ISSN 2631-6188
\n\nPhysiology (Coming Soon)
\n\nDentistry (Coming Soon)
\n\nWe invite you to explore our IntechOpen Book Series, find the right publishing program for you and reach your desired audience in record time.
\n\nNote: Edited in October 2021
\n'}],latestNews:[{slug:"webinar-introduction-to-open-science-wednesday-18-may-1-pm-cest-20220518",title:"Webinar: Introduction to Open Science | Wednesday 18 May, 1 PM CEST"},{slug:"step-in-the-right-direction-intechopen-launches-a-portfolio-of-open-science-journals-20220414",title:"Step in the Right Direction: IntechOpen Launches a Portfolio of Open Science Journals"},{slug:"let-s-meet-at-london-book-fair-5-7-april-2022-olympia-london-20220321",title:"Let’s meet at London Book Fair, 5-7 April 2022, Olympia London"},{slug:"50-books-published-as-part-of-intechopen-and-knowledge-unlatched-ku-collaboration-20220316",title:"50 Books published as part of IntechOpen and Knowledge Unlatched (KU) Collaboration"},{slug:"intechopen-joins-the-united-nations-sustainable-development-goals-publishers-compact-20221702",title:"IntechOpen joins the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Publishers Compact"},{slug:"intechopen-signs-exclusive-representation-agreement-with-lsr-libros-servicios-y-representaciones-s-a-de-c-v-20211123",title:"IntechOpen Signs Exclusive Representation Agreement with LSR Libros Servicios y Representaciones S.A. de C.V"},{slug:"intechopen-expands-partnership-with-research4life-20211110",title:"IntechOpen Expands Partnership with Research4Life"},{slug:"introducing-intechopen-book-series-a-new-publishing-format-for-oa-books-20210915",title:"Introducing IntechOpen Book Series - A New Publishing Format for OA Books"}]},book:{item:{type:"book",id:"8039",leadTitle:null,fullTitle:"Theorizing STEM Education in the 21st Century",title:"Theorizing STEM Education in the 21st Century",subtitle:null,reviewType:"peer-reviewed",abstract:"Theorising STEM Education in the 21st Century is a book that captures the essence of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and the intricacies of STEM education in the contemporary society. It explores STEM as an interdisciplinary field as well as the individual disciplines that make up STEM. This ensures the field of STEM as a whole is theorised. The book provides critical insight on STEM education from Cairo to Cape Town or from America to Indonesia. With a team of authors from universities across the world, the book is a vital contribution to critical scholarship on STEM education in contemporary times.",isbn:"978-1-78985-702-3",printIsbn:"978-1-78985-701-6",pdfIsbn:"978-1-78985-607-1",doi:"10.5772/intechopen.77870",price:119,priceEur:129,priceUsd:155,slug:"theorizing-stem-education-in-the-21st-century",numberOfPages:236,isOpenForSubmission:!1,isInWos:null,isInBkci:!1,hash:"0c99d528dbcc6ed5e8a26f96b36c812d",bookSignature:"Kehdinga George Fomunyam",publishedDate:"February 26th 2020",coverURL:"https://cdn.intechopen.com/books/images_new/8039.jpg",numberOfDownloads:12912,numberOfWosCitations:2,numberOfCrossrefCitations:12,numberOfCrossrefCitationsByBook:0,numberOfDimensionsCitations:19,numberOfDimensionsCitationsByBook:1,hasAltmetrics:1,numberOfTotalCitations:33,isAvailableForWebshopOrdering:!0,dateEndFirstStepPublish:"February 12th 2019",dateEndSecondStepPublish:"March 28th 2019",dateEndThirdStepPublish:"May 27th 2019",dateEndFourthStepPublish:"August 15th 2019",dateEndFifthStepPublish:"October 14th 2019",currentStepOfPublishingProcess:5,indexedIn:"1,2,3,4,5,6",editedByType:"Edited by",kuFlag:!1,featuredMarkup:null,editors:[{id:"267912",title:"Dr.",name:"Kehdinga George",middleName:null,surname:"Fomunyam",slug:"kehdinga-george-fomunyam",fullName:"Kehdinga George Fomunyam",profilePictureURL:"https://mts.intechopen.com/storage/users/267912/images/system/267912.jpg",biography:"Dr. Kehdinga George Fomunyam holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum Studies from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (UKZN). He is currently working as a lecturer and researcher at Mangosuthu University of Technology, South Africa. Before this, he was a lecturer and researcher at the Durban University of Technology, University of KwaZulu-Natal and the University of Adam Barka d’Abéché. His research areas are curriculum, pedagogy, quality assurance, research and development, STEM education, social science, teacher education, literature, and higher education. He has presented papers at various national and international conferences, published three peer-reviewed books and several chapters in books. He has also published about 25 peer-reviewed research articles in national and international journals.",institutionString:"Mangosuthu University of Technology",position:null,outsideEditionCount:0,totalCites:0,totalAuthoredChapters:"2",totalChapterViews:"0",totalEditedBooks:"1",institution:{name:"Mangosuthu University of Technology",institutionURL:null,country:{name:"South Africa"}}}],equalEditorOne:null,equalEditorTwo:null,equalEditorThree:null,coeditorOne:null,coeditorTwo:null,coeditorThree:null,coeditorFour:null,coeditorFive:null,topics:[{id:"1316",title:"Higher Education",slug:"higher-education"}],chapters:[{id:"70484",title:"Introductory Chapter: Theorising STEM Education in the Contemporary Society",doi:"10.5772/intechopen.90422",slug:"introductory-chapter-theorising-stem-education-in-the-contemporary-society",totalDownloads:681,totalCrossrefCites:0,totalDimensionsCites:0,hasAltmetrics:0,abstract:null,signatures:"Kehdinga George Fomunyam",downloadPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-download/70484",previewPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-preview/70484",authors:[{id:"267912",title:"Dr.",name:"Kehdinga George",surname:"Fomunyam",slug:"kehdinga-george-fomunyam",fullName:"Kehdinga George Fomunyam"}],corrections:null},{id:"68144",title:"Implementation and Didactic Validation of STEM Experiences in Primary Education: Analysis of the Cognitive and Affective Dimension",doi:"10.5772/intechopen.88048",slug:"implementation-and-didactic-validation-of-stem-experiences-in-primary-education-analysis-of-the-cogn",totalDownloads:732,totalCrossrefCites:1,totalDimensionsCites:3,hasAltmetrics:1,abstract:"Several studies highlight the need to improve STEM competencies from an early age, where the first attitudes and vocations toward these subjects begin to be forged. This research pursued two general objectives: First, to analyze the cognitive and affective dimension of primary education students in relation to STEM content, using a sample of 801 students. Second, to implement and validate STEM experiences as didactic strategies that improve the teaching/learning of these areas in students aged 10–12, using a sample of 455 students. The design of the research was quasi-experimental with pretest, posttest, control, and experimental groups, analyzing both cognitive and affective variables. The inferential statistical analysis of the obtained data reveals that STEM education promotes a positive evolution in the students both in the learning and emotional variables, existing statistically significant differences compared to a traditional methodology.",signatures:"Guadalupe Martínez-Borreguero, Milagros Mateos-Núñez and Francisco Luis Naranjo-Correa",downloadPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-download/68144",previewPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-preview/68144",authors:[{id:"86775",title:"Dr.",name:"Guadalupe",surname:"Martinez Borreguero",slug:"guadalupe-martinez-borreguero",fullName:"Guadalupe Martinez Borreguero"},{id:"298368",title:"Dr.",name:"Francisco Luis",surname:"Naranjo-Correa",slug:"francisco-luis-naranjo-correa",fullName:"Francisco Luis Naranjo-Correa"},{id:"298369",title:"Mrs.",name:"Milagros",surname:"Mateos-Núñez",slug:"milagros-mateos-nunez",fullName:"Milagros Mateos-Núñez"}],corrections:null},{id:"69373",title:"Inverse Modeling Problems in Task Enrichment for STEM Courses",doi:"10.5772/intechopen.89109",slug:"inverse-modeling-problems-in-task-enrichment-for-stem-courses",totalDownloads:729,totalCrossrefCites:1,totalDimensionsCites:0,hasAltmetrics:0,abstract:"Problem solving is considered as one of the most important topics in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education, and this is especially relevant when problems require modeling skills in order to be solved. Also, it should be noted that in many branches of science and technology, typical problems are posed in an inverse form. Then, combining both characteristics, the so-called inverse modeling problems deserve to be studied deeply, particularly in their potential for task enrichment. For those reasons, since 2016, a research project was carried out, by using inverse modeling problems to develop prospective teacher’s task enrichment skills. The results of this experience that took place in 2017 showed nine different groups of proposals where only few participants were very creative, whereas many others posed trivial problems or simply imitated examples analyzed previously. After that, a new research design was proposed during 2018 and implemented during the first months of 2019, with the aim of avoiding—or at least attenuating—those difficulties observed in the previous fieldwork. The new results showed interesting differences and few similarities when compared with the other experience. In this chapter, both experiences are analyzed, and lastly, findings and final conclusions are reported.",signatures:"Victor Martinez-Luaces, José Antonio Fernández-Plaza and Luis Rico",downloadPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-download/69373",previewPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-preview/69373",authors:[{id:"112457",title:"Dr.",name:"Victor",surname:"Martinez-Luaces",slug:"victor-martinez-luaces",fullName:"Victor Martinez-Luaces"},{id:"298788",title:"Dr.",name:"Luis",surname:"Rico",slug:"luis-rico",fullName:"Luis Rico"},{id:"298789",title:"Dr.",name:"José Antonio",surname:"Fernández-Plaza",slug:"jose-antonio-fernandez-plaza",fullName:"José Antonio Fernández-Plaza"}],corrections:null},{id:"68079",title:"Integrated STEM Education in K-12: Theory Development, Status, and Prospects",doi:"10.5772/intechopen.88141",slug:"integrated-stem-education-in-k-12-theory-development-status-and-prospects",totalDownloads:781,totalCrossrefCites:0,totalDimensionsCites:0,hasAltmetrics:0,abstract:"In this chapter, we focus on the integrated nature of STEM education in a wide-ranging view. Frist, we briefly interpret reasons why STEM education and synthesize various standpoints of integration in the literature. Then, on the basis of the relevant literature on integrated STEM education, an ideal model is proposed, which include four elements: discipline knowledge, teaching strategies, expectations, and learning system. After that, some analysis and discussion of this ideal model together with all parts of the model are provided. Followed by this ideal model, we have examined the literature on integrated STEM education in action so as to discuss the way to be integrated toward STEM education and enactment of integrated STEM education in practice. Finally, based on this ideal model, a couple of conclusions are summarized and implications are discussed.",signatures:"Bing Wei and Yue Chen",downloadPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-download/68079",previewPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-preview/68079",authors:[{id:"298845",title:"Associate Prof.",name:"Bing",surname:"Wei",slug:"bing-wei",fullName:"Bing Wei"},{id:"306275",title:"Ms.",name:"Yue",surname:"Chen",slug:"yue-chen",fullName:"Yue Chen"}],corrections:null},{id:"67864",title:"‘Making’ as a Catalyst for Engaging Young Female Adolescents in STEM Learning",doi:"10.5772/intechopen.87036",slug:"-making-as-a-catalyst-for-engaging-young-female-adolescents-in-stem-learning",totalDownloads:888,totalCrossrefCites:0,totalDimensionsCites:0,hasAltmetrics:0,abstract:"STEM enrichment programs have demonstrated positive impacts on young female adolescents’ interest and aptitude in STEM, personal/social-psychological well-being, and educational aspirations. Introducing STEM knowledge and skills in an environment of ‘making,’ that is, in a setting of hands-on activities, may further enhance adolescent girls’ engagement in STEM learning. The maker movement, defined as the convergence of technology and traditional artistry, has generated interest among educators for its potential to nurture STEM learning, including its capacity to engage diverse populations of youths in the making of creative objects through experimentation in science, technology, engineering, and math (i.e., STEM-based making). STEM-based making is a way to support young girls, who often approach making from an esthetic or personal expression perspective, to more fully integrate systems and technologies that advance critical thinking, innovative prototyping, and problem-solving into the making process. Insights are presented as to how STEM-based making designed for young female adolescents—a group that has traditionally had limited access to extracurricular STEM experiences as well as to makerspaces—may foster greater access to, and equity in, STEM learning. The role of universities in facilitating access to and equity in STEM-based making also is addressed.",signatures:"Karen Hyllegard, Jennifer Ogle and Sonali Diddi",downloadPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-download/67864",previewPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-preview/67864",authors:[{id:"297924",title:"Prof.",name:"Karen",surname:"Hyllegard",slug:"karen-hyllegard",fullName:"Karen Hyllegard"},{id:"297926",title:"Prof.",name:"Jennifer",surname:"Ogle",slug:"jennifer-ogle",fullName:"Jennifer Ogle"},{id:"297927",title:"Prof.",name:"Sonali",surname:"Diddi",slug:"sonali-diddi",fullName:"Sonali Diddi"}],corrections:null},{id:"69249",title:"STEM for Sustainable Skills for the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Snapshot at Some TVET Colleges in South Africa",doi:"10.5772/intechopen.89294",slug:"stem-for-sustainable-skills-for-the-fourth-industrial-revolution-snapshot-at-some-tvet-colleges-in-s",totalDownloads:890,totalCrossrefCites:2,totalDimensionsCites:4,hasAltmetrics:0,abstract:"Technological advancement is a major driver of the economic growth and has raised living standards enormously (though unevenly) across the globe. Digital technologies radically transform the structure of organisations and employment models, including teaching and learning. Youth and people who lack high-level technological and interpersonal skills are becoming vulnerable due to digital automated jobs. There is a need for targeted and strategic skills, and STEM that is responding to the changing technological world. The digital revolution and an increasing demand for designing and manufacturing are driving the growth of the creative sector, which extends from arts to science and technology and involves cultural creativity and innovation. Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) students should be equipped with designing and making skills for the twenty-first-century jobs. There is growing polarisation of labour market opportunities between high- and low-skill jobs, unemployment and underemployment especially among young people. Globally, almost 75 million youth are officially unemployed. This chapter present the driving forces for new jobs and skills for the future. The chapter also outlines the contribution of STEM knowledge and skills for digital literacy from basics to an advance level. The implication of digital literacy for the fourth industrial revolution is highlighted. The empirical part of this chapter presents results based on the investigation done on the vocational educational and training practices at three TVET colleges in one province in South Africa. The study focused on vocational pedagogic and didactic practices, workshop material and equipment for practical training, work-integrated learning and integration of theory and practice in vocational subjects. This investigation is a case study to gauge the extent of readiness of some TVET colleges for the fourth industrial revolution. The methodology of collecting data was questionnaires, interviews and observation. The participants of the study were students and lecturers. On the basis of these data, the paper determines the extent of readiness of TVET as well as CET colleges in the country. The paper recommends measures to position the TVET and CET colleges for the fourth industrial revolution.",signatures:"Moses Makgato",downloadPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-download/69249",previewPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-preview/69249",authors:[{id:"301731",title:"Dr.",name:"Moses",surname:"Makgato",slug:"moses-makgato",fullName:"Moses Makgato"}],corrections:null},{id:"67951",title:"Gender Equity in STEM Education: The Case of an Egyptian Girls’ School",doi:"10.5772/intechopen.87170",slug:"gender-equity-in-stem-education-the-case-of-an-egyptian-girls-school",totalDownloads:1068,totalCrossrefCites:2,totalDimensionsCites:3,hasAltmetrics:1,abstract:"This chapter explored gender equity in STEM education within the context of an Egyptian STEM school for girls. An intrinsic case study design was used to explore the experiences of girls in STEM from a socio-cultural perspective within a critical theory framework. The participants were STEM school graduates currently enrolled in engineering tracks in higher education institutions in the United States. Though STEM fields, especially engineering, are stereotyped as male dominated fields, Egyptian girls at a Cairo single sex STEM school pursued further studies in STEM fields. Findings show that gender gaps in STEM fields in Egypt and girls’ education and work decisions were deeply influenced by their childhood background, family education level, socioeconomic status, and idiosyncratic factors like self-efficacy and resistance. At the school level, teachers’ support, challenging STEM curriculum, dynamic formative assessment, student-centered pedagogies, female friendly teaching approaches, and a positive school environment played a great role in developing Egyptian female students’ potential to pursue STEM fields in higher education institutions.",signatures:"Mohamed El Nagdi and Gillian Heather Roehrig",downloadPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-download/67951",previewPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-preview/67951",authors:[{id:"296626",title:"Dr.",name:"Mohamed",surname:"El Nagdi",slug:"mohamed-el-nagdi",fullName:"Mohamed El Nagdi"},{id:"296627",title:"Prof.",name:"Gillian",surname:"Roehrig",slug:"gillian-roehrig",fullName:"Gillian Roehrig"}],corrections:null},{id:"68740",title:"A Theoretical Framework for Implementing STEM Education",doi:"10.5772/intechopen.88304",slug:"a-theoretical-framework-for-implementing-stem-education",totalDownloads:1471,totalCrossrefCites:1,totalDimensionsCites:3,hasAltmetrics:0,abstract:"Globally, strengthening Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education is recognized as embedding solutions to many societal problems like the depletion of natural resources and issues related to climate change. The recognition of STEM disciplines as economic drivers motivated the initiation of STEM education in both developed and developing nations. This is based on the thinking that an effective STEM education is a vehicle for developing in students the much desired twenty-first century competences. Yet, its operationalization has remained a great challenge in many nations. In most nations, educators lack a cohesive understanding of STEM education and are also deprived of an easy-to-understand STEM education framework that informs classroom practices. This chapter proposes a practical theoretical framework that nations may adopt and/or adapt for their STEM education to be successful.",signatures:"Vongai Mpofu",downloadPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-download/68740",previewPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-preview/68740",authors:[{id:"299343",title:"Dr.",name:"Vongai",surname:"Mpofu",slug:"vongai-mpofu",fullName:"Vongai Mpofu"}],corrections:null},{id:"69139",title:"Formative Assessment in Mathematics Education in the Twenty-First Century",doi:"10.5772/intechopen.88996",slug:"formative-assessment-in-mathematics-education-in-the-twenty-first-century",totalDownloads:1275,totalCrossrefCites:2,totalDimensionsCites:2,hasAltmetrics:0,abstract:"Assessment does not always have to involve paper and pencil but can instead be a project, an observation, or a task that shows a student has acquired the concept and can make sound connections and linkages with other related concepts. Learning is meaningful when the student comprehends the relationship of what is being learned to other knowledge. Furthermore, concept map measures aspects of learning, which conventional tests cannot measure such as students’ misconceptions. As such, the chapter shall focus on formative assessment in mathematics classroom mediated by a method of teaching (concept mapping) that promotes critical thinking, which assists teachers to teach and assess students’ understanding and make connections between concepts explicitly.",signatures:"Benard Chigonga",downloadPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-download/69139",previewPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-preview/69139",authors:[{id:"298587",title:"Dr.",name:"Benard",surname:"Chigonga",slug:"benard-chigonga",fullName:"Benard Chigonga"}],corrections:null},{id:"68166",title:"Towards a Forward-Thinking College Calculus Program",doi:"10.5772/intechopen.87940",slug:"towards-a-forward-thinking-college-calculus-program",totalDownloads:734,totalCrossrefCites:0,totalDimensionsCites:0,hasAltmetrics:1,abstract:"Calculus is perceived as serving many roles in college STEM students’ education, including as a way to ‘weed out’ students who should not be in the major to teaching fundamental concepts. No matter its purpose, it is clear that college calculus is viewed as a critical course in university STEM education. It is also clear that in the US and other countries, STEM education is disproportionately serving men and white and Asian students. In this chapter, I discuss how calculus has come to occupy this position over time and the current state of college calculus drawing on two national studies in the United States. I then define a forward thinking-calculus program as one designed to support a diverse population of students to thrive, provide an example of a program aligned with this approach, and discuss key features to consider in designing a calculus program for the modern age.",signatures:"Jessica Hagman",downloadPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-download/68166",previewPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-preview/68166",authors:[{id:"296965",title:"Dr.",name:"Jessica",surname:"Hagman",slug:"jessica-hagman",fullName:"Jessica Hagman"}],corrections:null},{id:"68547",title:"The Role of Mathematical Modeling in STEM Integration and Education",doi:"10.5772/intechopen.88615",slug:"the-role-of-mathematical-modeling-in-stem-integration-and-education",totalDownloads:1246,totalCrossrefCites:2,totalDimensionsCites:3,hasAltmetrics:0,abstract:"With the rapidly developing technology, the labor force of the society has changed direction, and in the age of informatics, creative engineering applications have come to the forefront. Accordingly, the education levels of the labor force were also changed. The science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education model in most countries aims to teach science, mathematics, technology, and engineering in relation to primary, secondary, high school, and higher education. STEM education, which has an impact in our country in recent years, has an important role in acquiring new skills, supporting creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship, gaining the ability to transition between professions and adapting to new occupations. Nowadays, technology is expected to have different skills from individuals who will work in different fields with rapid development. Also, different teaching strategies play a major role in STEM integration and training. One of them, mathematical modeling, is the process of analyzing real-life or realistic situation using mathematical methods in the most general sense. The idea that mathematical modeling cycles should be used in STEM education at all levels from primary to tertiary education has gained importance in recent years, since it increases the students’ motivation towards the lesson and they learn better by concentrating their attention.",signatures:"Murat Tezer",downloadPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-download/68547",previewPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-preview/68547",authors:[{id:"299964",title:"Associate Prof.",name:"Murat",surname:"Tezer",slug:"murat-tezer",fullName:"Murat Tezer"}],corrections:null},{id:"69130",title:"Discipline, Task and Reader Characteristics of Introductory Physics Students’ Graph Comprehension in Mathematics and Kinematics",doi:"10.5772/intechopen.88235",slug:"discipline-task-and-reader-characteristics-of-introductory-physics-students-graph-comprehension-in-m",totalDownloads:713,totalCrossrefCites:0,totalDimensionsCites:0,hasAltmetrics:0,abstract:"Students’ comprehension of graphs may be affected by the characteristics of the discipline in which the graph is used, the type of the task, as well as the background of the students who are the readers or interpreters of the graph. This research study investigated these aspects of the graph comprehension from 152 first year undergraduate physics students by comparing their responses to the corresponding tasks in the mathematics and physics disciplines. The discipline characteristics were analysed for four task-related constructs, namely coordinates, representations, area and slope. Students’ responses to corresponding visual decoding and judgement tasks set in mathematics and kinematics contexts were statistically compared. The effects of the participants’ gender, year of school completion and study course were determined as reader characteristics. The results of the empirical study indicated that participants generally transferred their mathematics knowledge on coordinates and representation of straight-line graphs to the physics contexts, but not in the cases of parabolic and hyperbolic functions or area under graphs. Insufficient understanding of the slope concept contributed to weak performances on this construct in both mathematics and physics contexts. Discipline characteristics seem to play a vital role in students’ understanding, whilst reader characteristics had insignificant to medium effects on their responses.",signatures:"Itumeleng Phage",downloadPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-download/69130",previewPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-preview/69130",authors:[{id:"284624",title:"Mr.",name:"Itumeleng",surname:"Phage",slug:"itumeleng-phage",fullName:"Itumeleng Phage"}],corrections:null},{id:"68653",title:"Implementation of Elliptic Curve25519 in Cryptography",doi:"10.5772/intechopen.88614",slug:"implementation-of-elliptic-curve25519-in-cryptography",totalDownloads:817,totalCrossrefCites:0,totalDimensionsCites:0,hasAltmetrics:1,abstract:"Bernstein’s design implementation of elliptic Curve25519 in key exchange is claimed to be highly secure and efficient. This curve is, for example, used in the key exchange scheme of TextSecure for Instant Messaging. In this paper, we present an implementation of elliptic Curve25519 in the simplified Elliptic Curve Integrated Encryption Scheme, thus showing that elliptic Curve25519 can also serve other purposes than key exchange. The curve is in Montgomery form, which makes it possible to use Montgomery ladder. Point compression, point decompression, encryption, and decryption algorithms are presented for the simplified Elliptic Curve Integrated Encryption Scheme.",signatures:"Intan Muchtadi-Alamsyah and Yanuar Bhakti Wira Tama",downloadPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-download/68653",previewPdfUrl:"/chapter/pdf-preview/68653",authors:[{id:"299438",title:"Dr.",name:"Intan",surname:"Muchtadi-Alamsyah",slug:"intan-muchtadi-alamsyah",fullName:"Intan Muchtadi-Alamsyah"},{id:"306265",title:"Mr.",name:"Yanuar Bhakti Wira",surname:"Tama",slug:"yanuar-bhakti-wira-tama",fullName:"Yanuar Bhakti Wira Tama"}],corrections:null},{id:"68243",title:"Programme Integrating Courses Making Engineering Students Reflect",doi:"10.5772/intechopen.88253",slug:"programme-integrating-courses-making-engineering-students-reflect",totalDownloads:890,totalCrossrefCites:1,totalDimensionsCites:1,hasAltmetrics:0,abstract:"A programme integrating course (PIC) is a special type of course, lasting for several academic years and aiming to strengthen programme coherence, by tying the students, instructors and programme director closer together. The first PIC was started at KTH in 2008. Since then, the concept has been polished and adopted by many engineering and masters of science programmes at KTH and at other universities. The course is built around regular (four times a year) reflection seminars in small cross-grade groups, mentored by a teacher. Each seminar has a topic, for example, study skills, procrastination, exchange studies, generic skills, minorities and equal treatment and ergonomics and mental health. Before the seminar, the students are presented with some material to read and view. Based on the texts and videos, each student should write a reflection document and read and comment some other students’ reflections. At the seminar, the students will further discuss the topic and discuss the courses that they are currently taking. PIC has been evaluated and found very valuable by both the students and the teachers acting as mentors. 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In order to design control systems, designers have to derive mathematical models for dynamical systems, and there are mainly two types of representations for mathematical models, that is, transfer functions and state equations. In other words, control theory is divided into “classical control” and “modern control” (e.g., see [12]).
Classical control means an analytical theory based on transfer function representations and frequency responses, and for classical control theory, we can find a large number of useful and typical results such as Routh-Hurwitz stability criterion [20] based on characteristic equations in the nineteenth century, Nyquist criterion [28] in the 1930s, and so on. Moreover, by using classical control ideas, some design methods of controllers such as proportional, derivative, and integral (PID) controllers and phase lead-lag compensators have also been presented [21]. In classical control, controlled systems are mainly linear and time-invariant and have a single input and a single output only. Furthermore, it is well known that design approaches based on classical control theory need experiences and trial and error. On the other hand, in the 1960s, state variables and state equations (i.e., state-space representations) have been introduced by Kalman as system representations, and he has proposed an optimal regulator theory [14, 15, 16] and an optimal filtering one [17]. Namely, controlled systems are represented by state equations, and controller design problems are reduced to optimization problems based on the concept of state variables. Such controller design approach based on the state-space representation has been established as “modern control theory.” Modern control is a theory of time domain, and whereas the transfer function and the frequency response are of limited applicability to nonlinear systems, state equations and state variables are equally appropriate to linear multi-input and multi-output systems or nonlinear one. Therefore, many existing results based on the state-space representation for controller design problems have been suggested (e.g., [7, 43]).
Now, as mentioned above, in order to design control systems, the derivation of a mathematical model for controlled system based on state-space representation is needed. If the mathematical model describes the controlled system with sufficient accuracy, a satisfactory control performance is achievable by using various controller design methods. However, there inevitably exists some gaps between the controlled system and its mathematical model, and the gaps are referred to as “uncertainties.” The uncertainties in the mathematical model may cause deterioration of control performance or instability of the control system. From this viewpoint, robust control for dynamical systems with uncertainties has been well studied, and a large number of existing results for robust stability analysis and robust stabilization have been obtained [34, 36, 47, 48]. One can see that quadratic stabilization based on Lyapunov stability criterion and
In recent years, a great number of control systems are brought about by present technologies and environmental and societal processes which are highly complex and large in dimension, and such systems are referred to as “large-scale complex systems” or “large-scale interconnected systems.” Namely, large-scale and complex systems are progressing due to the rapid development of industry, and large-scale interconnected systems can be seen in diverse fields such as economic systems, electrical systems, and so on. For such large-scale interconnected systems, it is difficult to apply centralized control strategies because of calculation amount, physical communication constraints, and so on. Namely, a notable characteristic of the most large-scale interconnected systems is that centrality fails to hold due to either the lack of centralized computing capability of or centralized information. Moreover, large-scale interconnected systems are controlled by more than one controller or decision-maker involving decentralized computation. In the decentralized control strategy, large-scale interconnected systems are divided into several subsystems, and various types of decentralized control problems have been widely studied [13, 38, 44]. The major problem of large-scale interconnected systems is how to deal with the interactions among subsystems. A large number of results in decentralized control systems can be seen in the work of Šijjak [38]. Moreover, a framework for decentralized fault-tolerant control has also been studied [44]. Additionally, decentralized robust control strategies for uncertain large-scale interconnected systems have also attracted the attention of many researchers (e.g., [3, 4, 5, 11]). Moreover, in the work of Mao and Lin [24], for large-scale interconnected systems with unmodeled interaction, the aggregative derivation is tracked by using a model following the technique with online improvement, and a sufficient condition for which the overall system when controlled by the completely decentralized control is asymptotically stable has been established. Furthermore, decentralized guaranteed cost controllers for uncertain large-scale interconnected systems have also been suggested [26, 27].
In this chapter, for a class of uncertain linear systems, we show LMI-based design strategies for adaptive gain robust controllers for a class of uncertain dynamical systems. The adaptive gain robust controllers consist of fixed gains and adaptive gains which are tuned by time-varying adjustable parameters. The proposed adaptive gain robust controller can achieve asymptotical stability but also improving transient behavior of the resulting closed-loop system. Moreover, by adjusting design parameters, the excessive control input is avoided [32]. In this chapter, firstly, a design method of the centralized adaptive gain robust stabilizing controllers for a class of uncertain linear systems has been shown, and the maximum allowable perturbation region of uncertainties is discussed. Namely, the proposed adaptive gain robust controllers can achieve robustness for the derived perturbation regions for unknown parameters. Additionally, the result for the centralized adaptive gain robust stabilizing controllers is extended to the design problem of decentralized robust control systems.
The contents of this chapter are as follows, where the item numbers in the list accord with the section numbers:
2. Synthesis of centralized adaptive gain robust controllers.
3. Synthesis of decentralized adaptive gain robust controllers.
4. Conclusions and future works.
The basic symbols are listed below.
The set of the real number | |
The set of | |
The set of | |
The set of complex numbers |
Other than the above, we use the following notation and terms: For a matrix
Furthermore, the following useful lemmas are used in this chapter.
Lemma 1.1.
where
A centralized adaptive gain robust state feedback control scheme for a class of uncertain linear systems is proposed in this section. The adaptive gain robust controller under consideration is composed of a state feedback with a fixed gain matrix and a time-varying adjustable parameter. In this section, we show an LMI-based design method of the adaptive gain robust state feedback controller, and the allowable perturbation region of unknown parameters is discussed.
Consider the uncertain linear system described by the following state-space representation:
where
In Eq. (2),
First of all, we design the state feedback control for the nominal system of Eq. (2) so as to generate the desirable transient behavior in time response for the uncertain linear system of Eq. (1). Namely, the nominal control input is given as
and thus the following nominal closed-loop system is obtained:
where
where
Now, we introduce complementary matrices
Additionally, applying
Thus, the control gain matrix
Now, for the uncertain linear system of Eq. (1), we define the following control input [37]:
where
From the above, the control objective in this section is to design the adaptive gain robust control which achieves satisfactory transient behavior. Namely, the control problem is to derive the adjustable time-varying parameter
In this subsection, we deal with design problems for the adjustable time-varying parameter
as a Lyapunov function candidate. Let
Firstly, the case of
Moreover, since the relation
Substituting the adjustable time-varying parameter
If the solution of the LMI of Eq. (11) exists, then the inequality
is satisfied. Thus, one can see that the following relation holds:
Next, we consider the case of
we see from Eq. (14) that some algebraic manipulations give
where
Let us consider the last term of the right-hand side of Eq. (21). We see from Eq. (12) and the relation
then the following relation for the quadratic function
Furthermore, applying
From the above, we show an LMI-based design strategy for the proposed adaptive gain robust control. Namely, the design problem of the proposed adaptive gain robust controller can be reduced to the feasibility of the LMI of Eq. (11). Note that the LMI of Eq. (11) defines a convex solution set of
where
and the constraint of Eq. (24) can be transformed into
From the above, we consider the following constrained optimization problem:
If the optimal solution of the constrained optimization problem of Eq. (27) exists, in which are denoted by
Consequently, the following theorem for the proposed adaptive gain robust control with guaranteed allowable region of unknown parameter
In order to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed control strategy, we have run a simple example.
Consider the following linear system with unknown parameter
Firstly, we design the nominal control input
Thus, the following fixed gain matrix can be computed:
Next, we solve the constrained optimization problem of Eq. (27), then the solutions
can be derived, and therefore the allowable upper bound of unknown parameter is given as
In this example, we consider the following two cases for the unknown parameter
• Case 1)
• Case 2)
Note that the unknown parameter of Case 1 satisfies the matching condition [45]. In addition, for the design parameter
Time histories of the states for
Case 1) | 1.0160 | |
Case 2) | 1.0038 |
The performance index
Time histories of the control inputs and the Lyapunov function for
Time histories of the states for
Time histories of the control inputs and the Lyapunov function for
Time histories of
Time histories of
where
From Figures 1–4 the proposed adaptive gain robust state feedback controller stabilizes the uncertain linear system of Eq. (29) in spite of uncertainties. Furthermore, we also find that the proposed adaptive gain robust controller achieves the good transient performance close to the nominal system.
For Case 1 in this example, one can see from Table 1 that the adaptive gain robust controller for
Therefore, the effectiveness of the proposed adaptive gain robust controller is shown.
In this section, an LMI-based design scheme of the centralized adaptive gain robust state feedback controller for a class of uncertain linear systems has been proposed, and by simple numerical simulations, the effectiveness of the proposed robust control strategy has been presented. Since the proposed adaptive gain robust controller can easily be obtained by solving the constrained convex optimization problem, the proposed design approach is simple. Moreover, by selecting the design parameter, the proposed adaptive gain robust controller can achieve good transient performance and/or avoid excessive control input. Note that there are trade-offs between achieving good transient performance and avoiding excessive control input.
The future research subject is the extension of proposed robust control scheme to such a broad class of systems as linear systems with state delays, uncertain systems with some constraints, and so on. Additionally, we will discuss the online adjustment for the design parameter
In this section, on the basis of the result derived in Section 2, an LMI-based design method of decentralized adaptive gain robust state feedback controllers for a class of uncertain large-scale interconnected systems is suggested. The design problem of the decentralized adaptive gain robust controller under consideration can also be reduced to the feasibility of LMIs, and the allowable perturbation region of uncertainties is also discussed.
Consider the uncertain large-scale interconnected system composed of
where
In Eqs. (35) and (36), the matrices
where
where
where
Now, by using symmetric positive definite matrices
as a Lyapunov function candidate. For the quadratic function
For the second term on the right side of Eq. (42), by using the well-known relation of Eq. (20), we can obtain the following relation:
From Eqs. (40) and (43), we have
The inequality of Eq. (44) can also be rewritten as
Therefore, if the matrix inequality
holds, then the following relation for the time derivative of
Now, as with Section 2, we derive a decentralized controller with pole placement constraints for the nominal subsystem of Eq. (37). Namely, from Eq. (46), the matrix inequality
is considered. In Eq. (48),
We introduce symmetric positive definite matrices
Thus, by applying
In Eq. (50), matrices
Therefore, if matrices
Now, by using the fixed gain matrix
where
From the above discussion, the designed objective in this section is to determine the decentralized robust control of Eq. (52) such that the resultant overall system achieves robust stability. That is to design the adjustable time-varying parameter
The following theorem shows sufficient conditions for the existence of the proposed decentralized adaptive gain robust control system.
where
We can obtain the following relation for the time derivative of the quadratic function
Firstly, we consider the case of
Substituting the adjustable time-varying parameter
and, thus, we have the following inequality for the function
Furthermore, the inequality of Eq. (62) can be rewritten as
Therefore, if the matrix inequality
holds, then the following relation for the time derivative of
Next, we consider the case of
The last term on the right side of Eq. (66) is less than 0 because the matrix
Therefore, we see from Eqs. (57) and (67) that the following inequality:
can be derived. Moreover, one can easily see that the inequality of Eq. (68) can be rewritten as
Therefore, if the matrix inequality
holds, then the relation of Eq. (65) for the time derivative of the function
For the matrix inequality of Eq. (70), by applying
Next, as mentioned in Section 2, we discuss the allowable region of the unknown parameters
From the relations of Eq. (71), one can find that the maximization of
Furthermore, we introduce a positive scalar
and consider the following additional condition:
Namely, we can replace the maximization problem of
Thus, in order to design the proposed decentralized adaptive gain robust controller, the constrained convex optimization problem
should be solved.
As a result, the following theorem can be obtained:
To demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed decentralized robust controller, an illustrative example is provided. In this example, we consider the uncertain large-scale interconnected system consisting of three two-dimensional subsystems, that is,
Firstly, by selecting the design parameters