Optimal design of gating systems by gradient search methods

A numerical optimization technique based on gradient-search is applied to obtain an optimal design of a typical gating system used for the gravity process to produce aluminum parts. This represents a novel application of coupling nonlinear optimization techniques with a foundry process simulator, and it is motivated by the fact that a scientifically guided search for better designs based on techniques that take into account the mathematical structure of the problem is preferred to commonly found trial-and-error approaches. The simulator applies the finite volume method and the VOF algorithm for CFD analysis. The direct gradient optimization algorithm, sequential quadratic programming (SQP), was used to solve both a 2D and a 3D gating system design problems using two design variables. The results clearly show the effectiveness of the proposed approach for finding high quality castings when compared with current industry practices.     

计算机远程控制系统的设计与实现

介绍了一个计算机远程控制系统的设计与实现，该系统采用客户机／服务器模式，实现远程屏幕的实时传输，采用LZW压缩算法对图像进行压缩传输，在接受方进行解码并且实现了远程文件创建和删除、显示被控制端的主机信息、发送实时消息等功能。采用鼠标，键盘的模拟方式对计算机进行实时控制。     

裂齿矩形翅片板翅式换热器优化设计的分析

对裂齿矩形翅片板翅式换热器中的裂齿矩形翅片的传热效率作了分析,并以单位质量材耗的换热能力最大为目标函数,分析研究了在不同雷诺数(Re)的操作条件下裂齿矩形翅片间角度、翅片厚、长度、宽度及极厚之间的关系。结果表明:在气体换热的场合下,当Re在某一范围时翅片可有效地起到强化传热的作用。当板厚为5mm,翅片厚为3mm,翅片间夹角为45°～70°,Re为2×10~3～8×10~3,最佳翅片纵向间距与翅片长度和翅片厚度乘积的平方根的比为1.5～2.5,最佳翅片尺寸系数为3～5时,传热强化效果较好。     

天然气管网输配气量优化研究

天然气管网系统管理部门为了明确天然气管网的输气能力和提高天然气管网的利用率，需要对天然气管网系统的输配气量进行优化。为此，以天然气管网系统的最大流量为目标函数，同时考虑了管道强度、节点压力和流量限制等约束条件，建立了天然气管网输配气量优化的数学模型。在研究遗传算法和模拟退火算法的基础上，提出了一种由二者结合构成的具有全域搜索、快速收敛和鲁棒性强等特点的混合遗传算法。结合实例，采用这一新算法求解了天然气管网输配气量优化的数学模型。实例优化结果表明，所建立的数学模型和采用的混合遗传算法是可行和有效的，能够对天然气管网系统输配气量的调度运行起到指导作用。     

DCOP FOR SMART HOMES: A CASE STUDY

The aim of this article is to bring forth the issue of integrating the services provided by intelligent artifacts in Ambient Intelligence applications. Specifically, we propose a Distributed Constraint Optimization procedure for achieving a functional integration of intelligent artifacts in a smart home. To this end, we employ Adopt-N , a state-of-the-art algorithm for solving Distributed Constraint Optimization Problems (DCOP). This article attempts to state the smart home coordination problem in general terms, and provides the details of a DCOP-based approach by describing a case study taken from the RoboCare project. More specifically, we show how (1) DCOP is a convenient metaphor for casting smart home coordination problems, and (2) the specific features which distinguish Adopt-N from other algorithms for DCOP represent a strong asset in the smart home domain.     

空调器中多翼离心风机的噪声研究及结构优化

采用逐步回归法对大量的多翼离心风机实验数据进行拟合,针对家用空调行业中以噪声为其最重要 的考核标准,得出了噪声与叶轮结构参数及风机性能参数间的近似关系式,并以噪声为目标函数进行了优化计算。     

Note on ‘Construction of Double Sampling s‐Control Charts for Agile Manufacturing’

He and Grigoryan (Quality and Reliability Engineering International 2002; 18 :343–355) formulated the design of a double‐sampling (DS) s control chart as an optimization problem and solved it with a genetic algorithm. They concluded that the DS s control charts can be a more economically preferable alternative in detecting small shifts than traditional s control charts. We explain that, since they only considered the average sample size when the process is in control, their conclusion is questionable. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A parallel and scalable algorithm for ADI method with pre-propagation and message vectorization

It is hard to implement the ADI method in an efficient way on distributed-memory parallel computers. We propose “P-scheme” which parallelizes a tridiagonal linear system of equations for the ADI method, but its effectiveness is limited to the cases where the problem size is large enough mainly because of the communication cost of the propagation phase of the scheme.

In order to overcome this difficulty, we propose an improved version of the P-scheme with “message vectorization” which aggregates several communication messages into one and alleviates the communication cost. Also we evaluate the effectiveness of message vectorization for the ADI method and show that the improved version of the P-scheme works well even for smaller problems and linear and super-linear speedups can be achieved for 8194 × 8194 and 16,386 × 16,386 problems, respectively.     

Estimation for the number of components in a mixture model using stepwise split-and-merge EM algorithm

The main difficulty with EM algorithm for mixture model concerns the number of components, say g. This is the question of model selection, and the EM algorithm itself could not estimate g. On the contrary, the algorithm requires g to be specified before the remaining parameters can be estimated. To solve this problem, a new algorithm, which is called stepwise split-and-merge EM (SSMEM) algorithm, is proposed. The SSMEM algorithm alternately splits and merges components, estimating g and other parameters of components simultaneously. Also, two novel criteria are introduced to efficiently select the components for split or merge. Experimental results on simulated and real data demonstrate the effectivity of the proposed algorithm.     

An immune oriented multi-agent system for biological image processing

In this article, we present a parallel image processing system based on the concept of reactive agents. Our system lies in the oRis language, which allows to describe finely and simply the agents’ behaviors to detect image features. We also present a method of segmentation using a multi-agent system, and two biological applications made with oRis. The stopping of this multi-agent system is implemented through a technique issued from immunology: the apoptosis.