Improved Repeatability of Pulsed Field Magnetometry Measurements Through Peltier Effect Temperature Control of Measurement Coils

Pulsed Field Magnetometers (PFMs) offer a method for high speed full loop characterisation of hard magnetic materials. As there is no dependency on iron to close a circuit, the repeatability of the technique is good. By utilising Peltier effect techniques to control the temperature of the measurement coil systems employed in a Pulsed Field Magnetometer, the level of repeatability of measurements can be significantly improved.     

A Web-based flood forecasting system for Shuangpai region

Traditional flood forecasting and operation of reservoirs in China are based on manual calculations by hydrologists or through standalone computer programs. The main drawbacks of these methods are long forecasting time due to time-consuming nature, individual knowledge, lack of communication, absence of experts, etc. A Web-based flood forecasting system (WFFS), which includes five main modules: real-time rainfall data conversion, model-driven hydrologic forecasting, model calibration, precipitation forecasting, and flood analysis, is presented in this paper. The WFFS brings significant convenience to personnel engaged in flood forecasting and control and allows real-time contribution of a wide range of experts at other spatial locations in times of emergency. The conceptual framework and detailed components of the proposed WFFS, which employs a multi-tiered architecture, are illustrated. Multi-tiered architecture offers great flexibility, portability, reusability and reliability. The prototype WFFS has been developed in Java programming language and applied in Shuangpai region with a satisfactory result.     

Comparison of three internationally certified firefighter protective ensembles: Physiological responses,mobility, and comfort

BackgroundFire protective ensembles (FPEs) are essential to safely perform firefighting job tasks; however, they are often burdensome to the workers. The aim of this study was to compare three internationally certified fire protective ensembles from the European Union (EU), South Korea (SK), and United States (US) on physiological responses, mobility, and comfort.MethodsTen male professional firefighters performed a battery of exercises in the laboratory following the ASTM F3031-17 standard to evaluate mobility, occupation-specific performance, and physiological responses (body weight, heart rate (HR), core temperature (T_c), breathing rate (BR), and rating of perceived exertion (RPE)) to 20 min of treadmill walking (3.2 mph, 5% incline). All participants carried out the evaluation wearing each FPE in a random order. Mixed effects models examined time (pre-vs. post-) by ensemble (EU, SK, US) interactions for all physiological variables and compared comfort, performance, and subjective variables across ensembles.ResultsNo interaction effects were observed for body weight, HR, T_c, BR, or RPE (p = 0.890, p = 0.994, p = 0.897, p = 0.435, and p = 0.221; respectively). SK had greater trunk flexion than EU (78.4° vs. 74.6°, p = 0.026) and US had lower standing reach than EU (105.5 cm vs. 115.4 cm, p = 0.004). Agility circuit time was lower in US (9.3 s) compared to EU (9.8 s) or SK (9.9 s) (p = 0.051 and p = 0.019, respectively).ConclusionsThe findings suggest that physiological burden remained largely unchanged across the international FPEs. However, mobility, performance, and comfort may be significantly influenced across types. International stakeholders and end users should consider design implications when choosing fire protective ensembles.     

Investigation of oil palm harvesting tools design and technique on work-related musculoskeletal disorders of the upper body

The oil palm industry is one of the important sectors in Malaysia. The growth and development of this industry shows that Malaysia is the world second-largest oil palm producers. However, in the fresh fruit bunch (FFB) harvesting process, the harvesters are exposed to many types of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs). The FFB harvesters tend to develop WMSDs especially the shoulders and trunk. Hence, it is important to identify the exposure levels, awkward postures and the reaction forces of muscle activity based on the posture and movement of the harvesters when using pole, chisel and loading spike during the harvesting process. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of the design of oil palm FFB harvesting tools on WMSDs of the upper body. Rapid Upper Limb Analysis (RULA) was used to investigate and assess the exposure level on the harvester body during the harvesting process. The assessment showed that the shoulders and trunk have high exposure level and undergo awkward posture. Human Musculoskeletal Model Analysis (HMMA) was used to identify the reaction force exerted on the muscle during the FFB harvesting process. In this study, 4 muscles were analysed including Triceps, Biceps, Erector Spinae and Psoas Major. The highest reaction force of 16.36 N was found on the left triceps when handling a loading spike. In conclusion, it is important to address the risks by reviewing all possible aspects that contribute to the WMSDs and interventions on the tool design, task and working shifts may be required.     

A model structure-driven hierarchical decentralized stabilizing control structure for process networks

Based on the structure of process models a hierarchically structured state-space model has been proposed for process networks with controlled mass convection and constant physico-chemical properties. Using the theory of cascade-connected nonlinear systems and the properties of Metzler and Hurwitz matrices it is shown that process systems with controlled mass convection and without sources or with stabilizing linear source terms are globally asymptotically stable. The hierarchically structured model gives rise to a distributed controller structure that is in agreement with the traditional hierarchical process control system structure where local controllers are used for mass inventory control and coordinating controllers are used for optimizing the system dynamics. The proposed distributed controller is illustrated on a simple non-isotherm jacketed chemical reactor.     

GJK算法的一种特殊情形的形式化验证和应用

计算几何算法经常用于机器人避碰运动规划等安全攸关领域,对这些算法进行正确性证明非常重要.用形式化方法对算法进行验证是一种十分有效的手段,尤其是定理证明的方法用严格的数学公理和定理推理证明逻辑模型的性质,对所验证的性质而言是完备的.基于GJK算法设计了计算空间两条线段间距离的算法,用定理证明器HOL4对其相关的定义和定理进行形式化定义和证明,进而基于霍尔逻辑完成形式化表示和证明,对该算法的正确性实现了形式化验证.最后,给出了这一经过验证的算法在双臂机器人无碰撞运动规划中的应用.     

A new robust observer-based adaptive type-2 fuzzy control for a class of nonlinear systems

In this paper, a novel robust observer-based adaptive controller is presented using a proposed simplified type-2 fuzzy neural network (ST2FNN) and a new three dimensional type-2 membership function is presented. Proposed controller can be applied to the control of high-order nonlinear systems and adaptation of the consequent parameters and stability analysis are carried out using Lyapunov theorem. Moreover, a new adaptive compensator is presented to eliminate the effect of the external disturbance, unknown nonlinear functions approximation errors and sate estimation errors. In the proposed scheme, using the Lyapunov and Barbalat's theorem it is shown that the system is stable and the tracking error of the system converges to zero asymptotically. The proposed method is simulated on a flexible joint robot, two-link robot manipulator and inverted double pendulums system. Simulation results confirm that in contrast to other robust techniques, our proposed method is simple, give better performance in the presence of noise, external disturbance and uncertainties, and has less computational cost.     

Research on delamination monitoring for composite structures based on HHGA–WNN

Due to the deficiencies of the training algorithms for available wavelet neural network used for structural health monitoring, a new hybrid hierarchy genetic algorithm was introduced by combining hierarchy genetic algorithm and least-square method to improve the learning procedure of wavelet neural network. The hybrid algorithm was able to determine the structure and parameters of the wavelet neural network simultaneously. In this algorithm, adaptive crossover and mutation probability were used to accelerate the genetic speed and avoid the occurrence of prematurity. The modal frequencies of a glass/epoxy laminates beam with varying assumed delamination sizes and locations were computed using finite element method and fed into the wavelet neural network to predict the delamination location and its extent. The simulation demonstrates that the wavelet neural network based on hybrid hierarchy genetic algorithm is robust, promising and converges very fast.     

Multiple households energy consumption forecasting using consistent modeling with privacy preservation

Traditional data-driven energy consumption forecasting models, including machine learning and deep learning methods, showed outstanding performance in terms of forecasting accuracy and efficiency. The superior performances are based on enough training data samples. Moreover, the derived forecasting model is only applicable to the training dataset and usually is applied to specific household. In real-world smart city development, a centralized forecasting model is required to model and forecasting energy consumption patterns for multiple households, whereas the traditional data-driven forecasting approaches may become invalid. A consistent model is demanded in this scenario modeling multiple households’ energy consumption patterns. Additionally, privacy issues are also highly concerned in such scenarios. Accurate energy consumption forecasting with privacy preservations becomes a key point for the state-of-art research. In this study, we adopt an innovative privacy-preserving structure that combines deep learning and federated learning. Under the premise of guaranteeing forecasting accuracy and privacy preservation, this structure can achieve the forecasting of various household energy consumption with a consistent model that simultaneously forecast multiple household energy consumption data by transmission control protocol.     

Coordinated scheduling of production and logistics for large-scale closed-loop manufacturing using Benders decomposition optimization

This paper studies coordinated scheduling of production and logistics for a large-scale closed-loop manufacturing system by integrating its manufacturing and recycling process. In addition to the forward manufacturing process, different recycling units in reverse recycling process are also studied. A decentralized network is designed to formulate the coordinated scheduling problem as a mixed integer programming model with both binary and integer variables. As the problem for closed-loop manufacturing is large-scale and computational-consuming in nature, the model is divided into integer variable sub-models and complex binary variable sub-models for preprocessing and reprocessing respectively. An iterative solution approach by Benders decomposition is developed to accelerate the solving efficiency in large-scale case by updating custom constraints. A case study is conducted to investigate the managerial implications of the decentralized network for the closed-loop manufacturing system. Computational experiments demonstrate the validity and efficiency of the proposed iterative solution approach for the large-scale scenarios.