Comparative evaluation of different statistical tools for the prediction of uniaxial compressive strength of rocks

In this study, uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), unit weight (UW), Brazilian tensile strength (BTS), Schmidt hardness (SHH), Shore hardness (SSH), point load index (Is₅₀) and P-wave velocity (V_p) properties were determined. To predict the UCS, simple regression (SRA), multiple regression (MRA), artificial neural network (ANN), adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) and genetic expression programming (GEP) have been utilized. The obtained UCS values were compared with the actual UCS values with the help of various graphs. Datasets were modeled using different methods and compared with each other. In the study where the performance indice PI_at was used to determine the best performing method, MRA method is the most successful method with a small difference. It is concluded that the mean PI_at equal to 2.46 for testing dataset suggests the superiority of the MRA, while these values are 2.44, 2.33, and 2.22 for GEP, ANFIS, and ANN techniques, respectively. The results pointed out that the MRA can be used for predicting UCS of rocks with higher capacity in comparison with others. According to the performance index assessment, the weakest model among the nine model is P7, while the most successful models are P2, P9, and P8, respectively.     

R-curves determination of ordinary refractory ceramics assisted by digital image correlation method

As a figure-of-merit, the rising ratio of crack propagation resistance to fracture initiation resistance indicates a reduction of the brittleness and enhances the thermal shock resistance of ordinary refractory ceramics. The significant nonlinear fracture behaviour is related to the development of a fracture process zone (FPZ). The universal dimensionless load–displacement diagram method is applied as a promising graphical method for the determination of R-curves for magnesia refractories showing different brittleness. By applying digital image correlation (DIC) together with the graphical method, the problems arisen with accurate determination of the fracture initiation resistance and the crack length are overcome. Meanwhile, the R-curve is subdivided with respect to the fracture processes, viz the fracture initiation, the development of FPZ and the onset of traction free macro-crack. With the simultaneous crack lengths evaluated from DIC, the contribution of each fracture process to the crack propagation resistance at certain loading stage is quantitatively presented.     

Elitist clonal selection algorithm for optimal choice of free knots in B-spline data fitting

Data fitting with B-splines is a challenging problem in reverse engineering for CAD/CAM, virtual reality, data visualization, and many other fields. It is well-known that the fitting improves greatly if knots are considered as free variables. This leads, however, to a very difficult multimodal and multivariate continuous nonlinear optimization problem, the so-called knot adjustment problem. In this context, the present paper introduces an adapted elitist clonal selection algorithm for automatic knot adjustment of B-spline curves. Given a set of noisy data points, our method determines the number and location of knots automatically in order to obtain an extremely accurate fitting of data. In addition, our method minimizes the number of parameters required for this task. Our approach performs very well and in a fully automatic way even for the cases of underlying functions requiring identical multiple knots, such as functions with discontinuities and cusps. To evaluate its performance, it has been applied to three challenging test functions, and results have been compared with those from other alternative methods based on AIS and genetic algorithms. Our experimental results show that our proposal outperforms previous approaches in terms of accuracy and flexibility. Some other issues such as the parameter tuning, the complexity of the algorithm, and the CPU runtime are also discussed.     

A novel quasi-oppositional harmony search algorithm and fuzzy logic controller for frequency stabilization of an isolated hybrid power system

The intermittent wind power in isolated hybrid distributed generation (IHDG) may cause serious problems associated with frequency (f) and power (P) fluctuation. Energy storage devices such as battery, super capacitor, and superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) may be used to reduce these fluctuations associated with f and P. This paper presents a study of IHDG power system for improving both f and P deviation profiles with the help of SMES. The studied IHDG power system is consisted of wind turbine generator and diesel engine generator. Both f and P control problems of the studied power system model are addressed in presence or absence of SMES. Fuzzy logic based proportional–integral–derivative (PID) controller with SMES is used for the purpose of minimization of f and P deviations. The different tunable parameters of the PID controller and those of the SMES are tuned by a novel quasi-oppositional harmony search algorithm. Performance study of the IHDG power system model is carried out under different perturbation conditions. The results demonstrate minimum f and P deviations may be achieved by using the proposed fuzzy logic based PID controller along with SMES.     

一种快速解压的无损压缩算法

随着信息技术的不断发展,大量数据给存储和传输都带来了巨大的挑战。数据压缩能够有效减少数据量,方便数据的处理和传输。无损压缩是一种利用数据的冗余特点进行压缩的压缩方法,解压时可以完全还原数据而不会有任何失真。在研究LZO算法的快速解压原理基础上,设计了一种新的压缩算法。该算法通过减少压缩数据中压缩块的数量,降低了解压程序的执行开销。测试结果表明,新算法可实现比LZO算法更快的解压速度。     

泛在电力物联网在北京经济技术开发区的应用探索

泛在电力物联网是物联网在电力领域的具体体现，建设泛在电力物联网是推进"三型两网"建设的关键环节，也是实现能源转型的必要手段。阐述了泛在电力物联网的定义，从供电公司角度出发，根据北京经济技术开发区实际情况，讨论了依托地区特点的泛在电力物联网实施策略和实际应用场景，分析了可能遇到的问题。得出结论：随着泛在电力物联网的深入建设，供电公司能够为电力客户提供多元化服务，提高客户满意度；地市供电公司能够依托泛在电力物联网开展更多电力相关业务；泛在电力物联网的安全性、实用性、有效性是发展面临的首要问题。     

海绵负载纳米Al2O3复合吸附剂去除水中硒研究

研究制备了海绵负载纳米Al2O3微球的复合吸附剂(NAS),并用于对Se(Ⅳ)和Se(Ⅵ)的吸附。结果表明,合成的纳米Al2O3微球(NAO)的平均尺寸为200~400 nm,在海绵上负载NAO会使其分散性更好。当NAO负载量分别为80 mg/g和60 mg/g时,NAS对Se(Ⅳ)和Se(Ⅵ)的吸附性能为佳,分别需要60、120 min达到平衡,适应pH为2~5;两者均符合准2级动力学模型;NAS对Se(Ⅳ)、Se(Ⅵ)的最大吸附容量分别为137.2、143.9 mg/g,能很好地与Freundlich模型拟合,说明NAS表面不均匀,且属于多层吸附。经过2次的循环,对Se(Ⅳ)和Se(Ⅵ)的去除率有所降低,但均仍保持在一定的水平,说明NAS可再生循环利用。NAS作为一种新型吸附剂去除水中Se具有较好的应用前景。     

Genetic algorithm and self organizing map based fuzzy hybrid intelligent method for color image segmentation

The grouping of pixels based on some similarity criteria is called image segmentation. In this paper the problem of color image segmentation is considered as a clustering problem and a fixed length genetic algorithm (GA) is used to handle it. The effectiveness of GA depends on the objective function (fitness function) and the initialization of the population. A new objective function is proposed to evaluate the quality of the segmentation and the fitness of a chromosome. In fixed length genetic algorithm the chromosomes have same length, which is normally set by the user. Here, a self organizing map (SOM) is used to determine the number of segments in order to set the length of a chromosome automatically. An opposition based strategy is adopted for the initialization of the population in order to diversify the search process. In some cases the proposed method makes the small regions of an image as separate segments, which leads to noisy segmentation. A simple ad hoc mechanism is devised to refine the noisy segmentation. The qualitative and quantitative results show that the proposed method performs better than the state-of-the-art methods.     

A bat-neural network multi-agent system (BNNMAS) for stock price prediction: Case study of DAX stock price

Creating an intelligent system that can accurately predict stock price in a robust way has always been a subject of great interest for many investors and financial analysts. Predicting future trends of financial markets is more remarkable these days especially after the recent global financial crisis. So traders who access to a powerful engine for extracting helpful information throw raw data can meet the success. In this paper we propose a new intelligent model in a multi-agent framework called bat-neural network multi-agent system (BNNMAS) to predict stock price. The model performs in a four layer multi-agent framework to predict eight years of DAX stock price in quarterly periods. The capability of BNNMAS is evaluated by applying both on fundamental and technical DAX stock price data and comparing the outcomes with the results of other methods such as genetic algorithm neural network (GANN) and some standard models like generalized regression neural network (GRNN), etc. The model tested for predicting DAX stock price a period of time that global financial crisis was faced to economics. The results show that BNNMAS significantly performs accurate and reliable, so it can be considered as a suitable tool for predicting stock price specially in a long term periods.     

Adaptive backstepping repetitive learning control design for nonlinear discrete‐time systems with periodic uncertainties

This paper addresses a tracking problem for uncertain nonlinear discrete‐time systems in which the uncertainties, including parametric uncertainty and external disturbance, are periodic with known periodicity. Repetitive learning control (RLC) is an effective tool to deal with periodic unknown components. By using the backstepping procedures, an adaptive RLC law with periodic parameter estimation is designed. The overparameterization problem is overcome by postponing the parameter estimation to the last backstepping step, which could not be easily solved in robust adaptive control. It is shown that the proposed adaptive RLC law without overparameterization can guarantee the perfect tracking and boundedness of the states of the whole closed‐loop systems in presence of periodic uncertainties. In addition, the effectiveness of the developed controller is demonstrated by an implementation example on a single‐link flexible‐joint robot. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.