The Power of the Synthetic Control Method

The synthetic control method (SCM) is a new, popular method developed for the purpose of estimating the effect of an intervention when only one single unit has been exposed. Other similar, unexposed units are combined into a synthetic control unit intended to mimic the evolution in the exposed unit, had it not been subject to exposure. As the inference relies on only a single observational unit, the statistical inferential issue is a challenge. In this paper, we examine the statistical properties of the estimator, study a number of features potentially yielding uncertainty in the estimator, discuss the rationale for statistical inference in relation to SCM, and provide a Web-app for researchers to aid in their decision of whether SCM is powerful for a specific case study. We conclude that SCM is powerful with a limited number of controls in the donor pool and a fairly short pre-intervention time period. This holds as long as the parameter of interest is a parametric specification of the intervention effect, and the duration of post-intervention period is reasonably long, and the fit of the synthetic control unit to the exposed unit in the pre-intervention period is good.

Revisiting the synthetic control estimator

The synthetic control (SC) method has been recently proposed as an alternative to estimate treatment effects in comparative case studies. The SC relies on the assumption that there is a weighted average of the control units that reconstruct the potential outcome of the treated unit in the absence of treatment. If these weights were known, then one could estimate the counterfactual for the treated unit using this weighted average. With these weights, the SC would provide an unbiased estimator for the treatment effect even if selection into treatment is correlated with the unobserved heterogeneity. In this paper, we revisit the SC method in a linear factor model where the SC weights are considered nuisance parameters that are estimated to construct the SC estimator. We show that, when the number of control units is fixed, the estimated SC weights will generally not converge to the weights that reconstruct the factor loadings of the treated unit, even when the number of pre-intervention periods goes to infinity. As a consequence, the SC estimator will be asymptotically biased if treatment assignment is correlated with the unobserved heterogeneity. The asymptotic bias only vanishes when the variance of the idiosyncratic error goes to zero. We suggest a slight modification in the SC method that guarantees that the SC estimator is asymptotically unbiased and has a lower asymptotic variance than the difference-in-differences (DID) estimator when the DID identification assumption is satisfied. If the DID assumption is not satisfied, then both estimators would be asymptotically biased, and it would not be possible to rank them in terms of their asymptotic bias.

A modified quality control method for manufacturing process in mask industry

Masks are widely used in different industries, for example, traditional metal industry, hospitals or semiconductor industry. Quality is a critical issue in mask industry as it is related to public health and safety. Traditional quality practices for manufacturing process have some limitations in implementing them in mask industries. This paper aims to investigate the suitability of Six Sigma quality control method for the manufacturing process in the mask industry to provide high quality products, enhancing the process capacity, reducing the defects and the returned goods arising in a selected mask manufacturing company. This paper suggests that modifications necessary in Six Sigma method for effective implementation in mask industry.

Rule-based transit signal priority control method using a real-time transit travel time prediction model

An advanced rule-based Transit Signal Priority (TSP) control method is presented in this paper. An on-line transit travel time prediction model is the key component of the proposed method, which enables the selection of the most appropriate TSP plans for the prevailing traffic and transit condition. The new method also adopts a priority plan re-development feature that enables modifying or even switching the already implemented priority plan to accommodate changes in the traffic conditions. The proposed method utilizes conventional green extension and red truncation strategies and also two new strategies including green truncation and queue clearance. The new method is evaluated against a typical active TSP strategy and also the base case scenario assuming no TSP control in microsimulation. The evaluation results indicate that the proposed method can produce significant benefits in reducing the bus delay time and improving the service regularity with negligible adverse impacts on the non-transit street traffic.

A New PWM Control Method for Three-Phase Autosequentially Commutated Current Source Inverters

A new current pulsewidth modulation (PWM) method is presented which uses the principle of creating zero three-phase currents at selected instants of time, through which the load current harmonic content can be controlled along with the magnitude of its fundamental content. This gives rise to reduction of motor torque ripples through the selection of suitable PWM patterns and a fast current control in the inverter by varying the pulsewidths of the PWM pattern. Under this new PWM mode of operation, the autosequentially commutated inverter (ASCI) circuit can be modified easily so that a higher number of pulses can be accomodated within a half-cycle, compared to the normal ASCI circuit. The experimental oscillograms verify the effectiveness of the new PWM method.

A voltage-sensorless control method to balance the input currents of a three-wire boost rectifier under unbalanced input voltages condition

This paper proposes a control method that can balance the input currents of the three-phase three-wire boost rectifier under unbalanced input voltage condition. The control objective is to operate the rectifier in the high-power-factor mode under balanced input voltage condition but to give overriding priority to the current balance function in case of unbalance in the input voltage. The control structure has been divided into two major functional blocks. The inner loop current-mode controller implements resistor emulation to achieve high-power-factor operation on each of the two orthogonal axes of the stationary reference frame. The outer control loop performs magnitude scaling and phase-shifting operations on current of one of the axes to make it balanced with the current on the other axis. The coefficients of scaling and shifting functions are determined by two closed-loop prportional-integral (PI) controllers that impose the conditions of input current balance as PI references. The control algorithm is simple and high performing. It does not require input voltage sensing and transformation of the control variables into a rotating reference frame. The simulation results on a MATLAB-SIMULINK platform validate the proposed control strategy. In implementation Texas Instrument's digital signal processor TMS320F24OF is used as the digital controller. The control algorithm for high-power-factor operation is tested on a prototype boost rectifier under nominal and unbalanced input voltage conditions.

Experimental investigation of a control method for SI-HCCI-SI transition in a multi-cylinder gasoline engine

In HCCI engines, the Air/Fuel Ratio (AFR) and Residual Gas Fraction (RGF) are difficult to control during the SI-HCCI-SI transition, and this may result in incomplete combustion and/or high pressure raise rates. As a result, there may be undesirably high engine load fluctuations. The objectives of this work are to further understand this process and develop control methods to minimize these load fluctuations. This paper presents data on instantaneous AFR and RGF measurements, both taken by novel experimental techniques. The data provides an insight into the cyclic AFR and RGF fluctuations during the switch. These results suggest that the relatively slow change in the intake Manifold Air Pressure (MAP) and actuation time of the Variable Valve Timing (VVT) are the main causes of undesired AFR and RGF fluctuations, and hence an unacceptable Net IMEP (NIMEP) fluctuation. We also found large cylinder-to-cylinder AFR variations during the transition. Therefore, besides throttle opening control and VVT shifting, cyclic and individual cylinder fuel injection control is necessary to achieve a smooth transition. The control method was developed and implemented in a test engine, and the result was a considerably reduced NIMEP fluctuation during the mode switch. The instantaneous AFR and RGF measurements could furthermore be adopted to develop more sophisticated control methods for SI-HCCI-SI transitions. © 2010 SAE International.

Effects of preceding crop and weed control method on weeds and common bean (Phaseoulus vulgaris L.) yield in a no-tillage cropping system

En 1994, se inició un trabajo de investigación el cual se continuo durante tres años, con el objetivo de evaluar el efecto de cultivos antecesores y métodos de control de malezas sobre el rendimiento frijol común ( P h a s e o l u s vulgaris L.) y la dinámica de las malezas. El frijol y los cultivos antecesores fueron sembrados en sistema de cero labranza. Las secuencias de cultivos estudiadas fueron: maíz (Zea mays L), seguido de frijol y frijol seguido de frijol. Se analizaron tres ciclos de los cultivos (1994, 1995 y 1996). La secuencia de cultivo que produjo el máximo rendimiento fue maíz seguido de frijol en 1994, así como también el promedio de rendimiento a través de los años. Por otro lado, los mayores valores de vainas por planta y semillas por vaina se obtuvieron cuando el frijol antecedió al frijol en 1994. Parcelas con controles de malezas mecánico y químico obtuvieron menores densidades y peso seco de malezas y mejores rendimientos que aquellas parcelas en las cuales se controlo la maleza a través de cobertura muerta.