A study of maintenance policies for second-hand products

This paper proposes two maintenance schemes for reused products. In order to reduce the purchasing cost or conform to the concept of environmental protection, reuse is considered as one of the most efficient strategies. However, the initial quality of reused product is often inferior to the new one and then product failures will occur frequently during usage period. Therefore, two periodical preventive maintenance (PM) policies in this paper are developed to decrease the high failure rate of the second-hand products. When a second-hand product with Weibull life time distribution of known age is intended to be used for a pre-specified period of time, the optimal number of PM actions and the corresponding maintenance degree are derived such that the expected total maintenance cost is minimized. The impact of providing preventive maintenance is illustrated through numerical examples.     

Genetic algorithm-based heuristics for an open shop scheduling problem with setup,processing, and removal times separated

This report proposes a solution to the open shop scheduling problem with the objective of minimizing total job tardiness in the system. Some practical processing restrictions, such as independent setup and dependent removal times, are taken into account as well. The addressed problem is first described as a 0–1 integer programming model, and is then solved optimally. Subsequently, some hybrid genetic-based heuristics are proposed to solve the problem in an acceptable computation time. To demonstrate the adaptability of these heuristics, some performance comparisons are made with solutions provided by running either a mathematical programming model or certain classic meta-heuristics such as genetic algorithm, simulated annealing, and tabu search in various manufacturing scenarios. The experimental results show that the hybrid genetic-based heuristics perform well, especially the DGA. However, these heuristics require some more additional computations but are still acceptable.     

Recurrent neuro fuzzy control design for tracking of mobile robots via hybrid algorithm

This paper proposes a TSK-type recurrent neuro fuzzy system (TRNFS) and hybrid algorithm- GA_BPPSO to develop a direct adaptive control scheme for stable path tracking of mobile robots. The TRNFS is a modified model of the recurrent fuzzy neural network (RFNN) to obtain generalization and fast convergence. The TRNFS is designed using hybridization of genetic algorithm (GA), back-propagation (BP), and particle swarm optimization (PSO), called GA_BPPSO. For the tracking control of mobile robot, two TRNFSs are designed to generate the control inputs by direct adaptive control scheme and hybrid algorithm GA_BPPSO. Through simulation results, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed controller.     

Enhanced sample concentration on a three-dimensional origami paper-based analytical device with non-uniform assay channel

Traditional microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (μPADs) consist of a flat straight channel printed on a paper substrate. Such devices provide a promising low-cost solution for a variety of biomedical assays. However, they have a relatively high sample consumption due to their use of external reservoirs. Moreover, in μPADs based on the ion concentration polarization (ICP) effect, controlling the cross-sectional area of the Nafion membrane relative to that of the hydrophilic channel is difficult. Accordingly, the present study utilizes an origami technique to create a μPAD with a three-dimensional (3D) structure. The μPAD features short channels and embedded reservoirs, and therefore reduces both the driving voltage requirement and the sample consumption. Moreover, the preconcentration effect is enhanced through the use of an additional hydrophilic area adjacent to the Nafion membrane. The existence of electroosmotic flow (EOF) within the proposed device is confirmed using a current-monitoring method. In addition, the occurrence of ICP is evaluated by measuring the current–voltage response of the device at external voltages ranging from 0 to 50 V. The experimental results obtained for a fluorescein sample with an initial concentration of 10^?5 M show that a 100-fold enhancement factor can be achieved given the use of a non-uniform-geometry design for the assay channel and an additional hydrophilic region with an area equal to approximately 10% of the channel cross-sectional area. Finally, a 100-fold factor can also be achieved for a fluorescein isothiocyanate sample with an initial concentration of 10^?6 M given an external driving voltage of 40 V.     

Molecular Verification of Rule-Based Systems Based on DNA Computation

Various graphic techniques have been developed to analyze structural errors in rule-based systems that utilize inference (propositional) logic rules. Four typical errors in rule-based systems are: redundancy (numerous rule sets resulting in the same conclusion); circularity (a rule leading back to itself); incompleteness (deadends or a rule set conclusion leading to unreachable goals); and inconsistency (rules conflicting with each other). This study presents a new DNA-based computing algorithm mainly based upon Adleman's DNA operations. It can be used to detect such errors. There are three phases to this molecular solution: rule-to-DNA transformation design, solution space generation, and rule verification. We first encode individual rules using relatively short DNA strands, and then generate all possible rule paths by the directed joining of such short strands to form longer strands. We then conduct the verification algorithm to detect errors. The potential of applying this proposed DNA computation algorithm to rule verification is promising given the operational time complexity of O(n*q), in which n denotes the number of fact clauses in the rule base and q is the number of rules with longest inference chain.     

Electrostatic model for an asymmetric combdrive

This paper presents an analytical solution to the electrostatic actuation of an asymmetric combdrive in out-of-plane and torsional motions. The exact solutions to force in the out-of-plane motion and the integral for torque in the torsional motion are obtained. The dependence of the peak force on the thickness of the movable fingers and the amount of overlap of the combs is given in closed form. Using our model, the shift of the natural resonant frequency due to a dc bias is analyzed. Furthermore, our solution also applies to the in-plane motion of an in-plane interdigitated combdrive. We found that an in-plane interdigitated combdrive generates a constant force within 0.1% when the minimum initial engagement length of the combs is twice the separation gap     

A Piecewise Grey System Model for Study the Effects of Anthropogenic Activities on Karst Hydrological Processes

Sustainable groundwater development must rely on a good understanding of hydrological processes, especially under effects of anthropogenic activities. This paper develops a piecewise analysis based on grey system model for study effects of anthropogenic activities on hydrological processes. The time series of precipitation and spring discharge were segmented into three time periods depending on whether variations are due to climate variation: the predevelopment stage, the transition stage, and the new equilibrium stage. Then we modeled hydrological process of the predevelopment stage and new equilibrium stage by the grey system model. By comparing the model results, we can quantify the effects of human activities on hydrological processes. We applied the model to Liulin Springs China. The results indicated that the hydraulic response time of the spring discharge to precipitation from the predevelopment stage to the new equilibrium stage, ranges from less than 1 year to up to 4 years. The results revealed that human activities slow the groundwater flow. GM (1,N) models of Liulin Springs discharge showed that the driving coefficients of precipitation to the spring discharge decreased from 0.012272 in the predevelopment stage to 0.007753 in the new equilibrium stage, which means that groundwater recharge ability has reduced about 36.82 %. Human activities in Liulin Springs have drastically changed the groundwater system. Piecewise grey system model is a robust method for hydrological process simulation.