Adaptive PSODV algorithm for OPF with non-smooth cost functions and statistical analysis

This paper presents a particle swarm optimization with differentially perturbed velocity hybrid algorithm with adaptive acceleration coefficient (APSO-DV) for solving the optimal power flow problem with non-smooth and non-convex generator fuel cost characteristics. The APSO-DV employs differentially perturbed velocity with adaptive acceleration coefficient for updating the positions of particles for the particle swarm optimization. The feasibility of the proposed approach was tested on IEEE 30-bus and IEEE 118-bus systems with three different objective functions. Several cases were investigated to test and validate the robustness of the proposed method in finding the optimal solution. The effectiveness of the proposed approach was tested including contingency also. Simulation results demonstrate that the APSO-DV provides superior results compared to classical DE, PSO, PSO-DV and other methods recently reported in the literature. An innovative statistical analysis based on central tendency measures and dispersion measures was carried out on the bus voltage profiles and voltage stability indices.     

Secure and Robust Error Correction for Physical Unclonable Functions

Editor's note:Physical unclonable functions (PUFs) offer a promising mechanism that can be used in many security, protection, and digital rights management applications. One key issue is the stability of PUF responses that is often addressed by error correction codes. The authors propose a new syndrome coding scheme that limits the amount of leaked information by the PUF error-correcting codes.—Farinaz Koushanfar, Rice University     

Boosted multi-task learning

In this paper we propose a novel algorithm for multi-task learning with boosted decision trees. We learn several different learning tasks with a joint model, explicitly addressing their commonalities through shared parameters and their differences with task-specific ones. This enables implicit data sharing and regularization. Our algorithm is derived using the relationship between ? ₁-regularization and boosting. We evaluate our learning method on web-search ranking data sets from several countries. Here, multi-task learning is particularly helpful as data sets from different countries vary largely in size because of the cost of editorial judgments. Further, the proposed method obtains state-of-the-art results on a publicly available multi-task dataset. Our experiments validate that learning various tasks jointly can lead to significant improvements in performance with surprising reliability.     

Bidirectional differential on-chip wave-pipelined serial interconnect with surfing

In the literature, surfing technique has been proposed for differential on-chip wave-pipelined serial interconnects with uniform repeaters (UR) and non-uniform repeaters to increase the data transfer rate for unidirectional schemes. In this paper, a novel bidirectional data transfer through the differential wave-pipelined serial interconnects with surfing for UR is proposed. A new circuit called ‘Bidirectional surfing inverter pair’ is proposed for differential wave-pipelined serial interconnects. The method of logical effort is used for the design of surfing circuits. To evaluate the efficiency of these techniques, 40 mm metal 4 interconnects using the proposed surfing techniques are implemented along with transmitter, receiver and delay locked loop in UMC 180 nm technology and their performances are studied through post layout simulations. The proposed bidirectional differential surfing scheme has a maximum data transfer rate of 2 Gb/s and has allowable jitter of 52 ps on both directions through the same interconnects.     

HiveSec: security in resource-constrained wireless networks inspired by beehives and bee swarms

Cryptographic algorithms rely on the strengths of all their fundamental components and expect them to be harmonious in accomplishing desired levels of security in applications. In order for a security solution to be sophisticated and to provide high security (measured in terms of the security goals it satisfies), the solution needs to typically involve complex mathematical operations and/or multiple stages of operation. While these might offer increased security, such solutions might not be applicable to all systems. We refer to resource-constrained wireless networks, such as radio frequency identification and wireless body area networks, where the resources available on-chip are often decided by the balance between device costs, requirements of longevity and usability. The constraints, thus, require designing solutions that use simple logical operations and are based on reuse of functions, while introducing sufficient unpredictability to increase security. In this paper, we present a key management and message signature generation scheme called HiveSec, whose design is inspired by the symmetry in beehives and the nature of bee swarms, and which offers security through unpredictability and reduced resource usage. We validate our work through simulation studies and security analysis.     

Effectiveness of sodium silicate as gangue depressants in iron ore slimes flotation

The recovery of iron from the screw classifier overflow slimes by direct flotation was studied.The relative effectiveness of sodium silicates with different silica-to-soda mole ratios as depressants for silica and silicate bearing minerals was investigated.Silica-to-soda mole ratio and silicate dosage were found to have significant effect on the separation efficiency.The results show that an increase of Fe content in the concentrate is observed with concomitant reduction in SiO2 and Al2O3 levels when a particular type of sodium silicate at a proper dosage is used.The concentrate of 58.89wt％ Fe,4.68wt％ SiO2,and 5.28wt％ Al2O3 with the weight recovery of 38.74％ and the metal recovery of 41.13％ can be obtained from the iron ore slimes with 54.44wt％ Fe,6.72wt％ SiO2,and 6.80wt％ Al2O3,when Na2SiO3 with a silica-to-soda mole ratio of 2.19 is used as a depressant at a feed rate of 0.2 kg/t.     

Network Design Model to Integrate Shelter Assignment with Contraflow Operations in Emergency Evacuation Planning

Networks and Spatial Economics - In traditional emergency evacuation planning, shelter assignment and contraflow operations are determined sequentially. In this paper, we show that these two types...     

Synthesis,Structural, and Magnetic Properties of Nanocrystalline Ti 0.95Co0.05O2-Diluted Magnetic Semiconductors

With a view to investigate the influence of nanometric size on the structural, surface, and magnetic properties of nanocrystalline Ti_0.95Co_0.05O₂-diluted magnetic semiconductors, prepared by a novel simple controllable peroxide-assisted reflux chemical route followed by annealing at different temperatures, a systematic investigation has been undertaken. Structural characterizations such as X-ray diffraction followed by Rietveld refinement, electron diffraction pattern, Fourier transform infrared, Raman scattering, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements have shown anatase phase formation in nanocrystalline Ti_0.95Co_0.05O₂ without any additional impurity phases. The modified reflux chemical route was effective in obtaining pure phase Ti_0.95Co_0.05O₂ nanoparticles. Surface morphological investigations by using transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy measurements showed the predominant effect of random distribution of nanoparticles on the aggregation behavior and local microstructural changes. The deconvoluted XPS core level Co 2p spectral study manifested the oxidation state of Co as + 2 and is found to be stable with varying particle size and annealing temperature. The ferromagnetic behavior was investigated by vibrating sample magnetometer, magnetic force microscopy, and electron spin resonance measurements. These magnetization studies showed all the samples are ferromagnetic at room temperature without any magnetic clusters. The correlation between structure, surface condition of the nanoparticles and local electronic interactions, and magnetization of the samples was analyzed and explored the origin of ferromagnetism.