Discussion of “Assessments of Impacts of Climate Change and Human Activities on Runoff with SWAT for the Huifa River Basin, Northeast China” by Aijing Zhang; Chi Zhang; Guobin Fu; Bende Wang; Zhenxin Bao; and Hongxing Zheng

Zhang et al. (Water Resour Manag doi:10.1007/s11269-012-0182-2, 2012) studied the impacts of climate change and human activities on the runoff for the Huifa River basin. They employed a soil and water assessment tool (SWAT), which was calibrated for the baseline period 1956–1964, and then used to reconstruct the natural runoff for the climate change period 1965–2000. Results showed that both climate change and human activities decrease the observed runoff. Climate change impacts on annual runoff were ?37.7, ?59.5, +36.9, and ?45.2 mm/a for 1965–1975, 1976–1985, 1986–1995, and 1996–2005 respectively, compared with the baseline period 1956–1964. Human activities decreased runoff and caused a relatively larger magnitude impact than those of climate change after 1985. Human activities decreased the annual runoff by ?32.9, ?46.8, ?67.8, and ?54.9 mm/a for 1965–1975, 1976–1985, 1986–1995, and 1996–2005 respectively. Human activities further decreased runoff in wet years due to regulation and storage of water projects.     

Honey-Bees Mating Optimization (HBMO) Algorithm: A New Heuristic Approach for Water Resources Optimization

Over the last decade, evolutionary and meta-heuristic algorithms have been extensively used as search and optimization tools in various problem domains, including science, commerce, and engineering. Their broad applicability, ease of use, and global perspective may be considered as the primary reason for their success. The honey-bees mating process may also be considered as a typical swarm-based approach to optimization, in which the search algorithm is inspired by the process of real honey-bees mating. In this paper, the honey-bees mating optimization algorithm (HBMO) is presented and tested with few benchmark examples consisting of highly non-linear constrained and/or unconstrained real-valued mathematical models. The performance of the algorithm is quite comparable with the results of the well-developed genetic algorithm. The HBMO algorithm is also applied to the operation of a single reservoir with 60 periods with the objective of minimizing the total square deviation from target demands. Results obtained are promising and compare well with the results of other well-known heuristic approaches.     

A discrete-time, dynamic system method for the identification of the viscoelastic properties of a class of materials

In this paper, a linear viscoelastic material is considered as a dynamic system. From this point of view, a dynamic system identification method is developed for the determination of the relaxation or creep function of the material from dynamic experimental measurements. First, the relation between the relaxation or creep function and the transfer function of the system is established by assuming a model of rational functions of polynomials for the transfer function. Second, a discrete-time system analysis method is introduced to identify the order and parameters of the proposed model from the discretetime series of both the input and output signals. The numerical examples given show that the proposed procedure is reasonable and the model is accurate and efficient.     

Design of random doping fluctuation resistant structures of semiconductor devices

An automated technique is presented for the computation of the doping profiles that minimize the intrinsic fluctuations of various parameters induced by random doping fluctuations in semiconductor devices. The technique is based on the computation of the doping sensitivity functions of the parameters under consideration and the constrained minimization of the standard deviation of fluctuations by using the Lagrange multipliers technique. The technique is then applied to the minimization of the random doping induced fluctuations of the threshold voltage in 40-nm channel length MOSFET device.     

The measurement of minimotors and micromotors torque-characteristic using miniaturized cable brake

 A miniaturized torque sensor based on cable brake principle for the measurement of torque-characteristic of minimotors and micromotors has been developed. The first generation torque sensor enables the measurement of torque of minimotors in the range of μNm. Design principles and the production process are described. Experimental results show fair conformity with technical data for minimotors. Received: 30 October 1996 / Accepted: 14 November 1996     

Model Checking Timed and Stochastic Properties with CSL^{TA}

Markov chains are a well-known stochastic process that provide a balance between being able to adequately model the system's behavior and being able to afford the cost of the model solution. The definition of stochastic temporal logics like continuous stochastic logic (CSL) and its variant asCSL, and of their model-checking algorithms, allows a unified approach to the verification of systems, allowing the mix of performance evaluation and probabilistic verification. In this paper we present the stochastic logic CSLTA, which is more expressive than CSL and asCSL, and in which properties can be specified using automata (more precisely, timed automata with a single clock). The extension with respect to expressiveness allows the specification of properties referring to the probability of a finite sequence of timed events. A typical example is the responsiveness property "with probability at least 0.75, a message sent at time 0 by a system A will be received before time 5 by system B and the acknowledgment will be back at A before time 7", a property that cannot be expressed in either CSL or asCSL. We also present a model-checking algorithm for CSLTA.