Decomposition of first-order hybrid Petri nets for hierarchical control of manufacturing systems

Although hybrid Petri net (HPN) is a popular formalism in modelling hybrid production systems, the HPN model of large scale systems gets substantially complicated for analysis and control due to large dimensionality of such systems. To overcome this problem, a typical approach is to decompose the net into subnets and then control the plant through hierarchical or decentralized structures. Although this concept has been widely discussed in the literature for discrete PNs, there is a lack of research for HPNs. In this paper, a new method of decomposition of first-order hybrid Petri nets (FOHPNs) is proposed first and then the hierarchical control of the subnets through a coordinator is introduced. The advantage of using the proposed approach is validated by an existing example. A sugar milling case study is analysed by using a decomposed FOHPN model and the optimization results are compared against the results of the approaches presented in other papers. Simulation results show not only an improvement in production rate, but also show the ability to control the plant online. In addition, by using the hierarchical control structure for an FOHPN model, it is possible to reduce the cost of communication links, improve the reliability of the system, maintain the plant locally, and partially redesign the system.     

Evolutionary collective behavior decomposition model for time series data mining

In this research, we propose a novel framework referred to as collective game behavior decomposition where complex collective behavior is assumed to be generated by aggregation of several groups of agents following different strategies and complexity emerges from collaboration and competition of individuals. The strategy of an agent is modeled by certain simple game theory models with limited information. Genetic algorithms are used to obtain the optimal collective behavior decomposition based on history data. The trained model can be used for collective behavior prediction. For modeling individual behavior, two simple games, the minority game and mixed game are investigated in experiments on the real-world stock prices and foreign-exchange rate. Experimental results are presented to show the effectiveness of the new proposed model.     

Liner services network design and fleet deployment with empty container repositioning

Transportation demand of shipping container fluctuates due to the seasonality of international trade, thus, every 3–6 months, the liner company has to alter its current liner shipping service network, redeploy ships and design cargo routes with the objective of minimizing the total cost. To solve the problem, the paper presents a mixed integer linear program model. The proposed model incorporates several relevant constraints, such as weekly frequency, the transshipment of cargo between two or more service routes, and transport time. Extensive numerical experiments based on realistic date of Asia–Europe–Oceania shipping operations show that the proposed model can solve real-case problems efficiently by CPLEX. The results demonstrate that the model can reduce ship’s capacity consumption and raise ships’ capacity utilization.     

Reality-based interaction affecting mental workload in virtual reality mental arithmetic training

ABSTRACT

The concept of digital game-based learning (DGBL) evolves rapidly together with technological enhancements of virtual reality (VR) and smart phones. However, the mental workload (MWL) that VR-training applications demand and motivational qualities originating from user experience (UX) should be identified in order to create effective and enjoyable training/learning challenges that fit with individual users’ capabilities. This study examined the effects of reality-based interaction (RBI) and VR on measures of student motivation and MWL, in a mental arithmetic game for secondary school pupils. In a randomised controlled trial with sixty school children, a mental arithmetic game was tested with three different interaction and two different presentation methods – VR RBI, VR head-mounted-display tapping and tablet flick-gesture. Results found a significant effect of RBI on MWL but no differences in enjoyment of training were found between VR-experience and tablet training-experience. In fact, adding the gaming-context to the mental arithmetic task created an enjoyable, motivating experience regardless of presentation or interaction-style.     

A mixed collector system for phosphate flotation

Flotation has been used in industry for more than a half century as the primary technique for upgrading phosphate. While the flotation of phosphate was inefficient when oleic acid was used alone as a collector, therefore a mixed collector of oleic acid (HOl), linoleic acid (LA) and linolenic acid (LNA) was employed to improve the recovery of phosphate flotation. The batch flotation results showed that the optimal composition of the mixed collector was 54 wt.% HOl, 36 wt.% LA and 10 wt.% LNA. Additionally, the effect of pH on the mixed collector application was studied while considering the surface tension, contact angle and micro-flotation. The results showed that the mixed collector should be used at a pH of 9.5. Above a pH of 9.5, the adsorption of fatty acids dimers on the apatite surface hindered phosphate flotation. The influence of the mixed collector assembly on apatite flotation was also investigated. It was demonstrated that due to its low critical micelle concentration, a sufficiently hydrophobic apatite surface could be generated at a collector concentration of 60 mg/L. In addition, zeta potential experiments suggested that collector adsorption was governed by chemisorption. FTIR and XPS spectra studies further indicated that the chemical reaction involved the carboxyl groups of fatty acids and Ca species at the apatite surface for each fatty acid in the mixed collector.     

The growth of oleaginous Rhodotorula glutinis in an internal-loop airlift bioreactor by using mixture substrates of rice straw hydrolysate and crude glycerol

The conversion of lignocellulosic biomass (LCB) to microbial oils is attracting a growing amount of attention. However, the growth of the oleaginous yeast Rhodotorula glutinis on LCB hydrolysate (mainly rice straw) only will lead to a low lipid mass fraction, in the range of 10–20%. This study shows that the addition of crude glycerol to the LCB hydrolysate medium can efficiently raise the lipid mass fraction to the range of 30–40%. Crude glycerol is a by-product in the biodiesel production process. The use of renewable LCB hydrolysate and crude glycerol would greatly reduce the substrate cost for microbial oil production using R. glutinis. In addition, the results of experiments show that a low-cost airlift bioreactor is a more suitable fermentation process for the growth of R. glutinis than the use of a conventional agitation tank. When using mixed carbon sources of LCB hydrolysate with 30 kg m⁻³ of reducing sugars and 30 kg m⁻³ of crude glycerol, a maximal cell mass of 21.4 kg m⁻³ and lipid mass fraction of 58.5 ± 6.2 were achieved in an internal loop airlift bioreactor, and this process may have the potential to be applied in scale-up production.     

Mixed oxide supported hydrodesulfurization catalysts—a review

Support effects form important aspect of hydrodesulfurization (HDS) studies and mixed oxide supports received maximum attention in the last two decades. This review will focus attention on studies on mixed oxide supported Mo and W catalysts. For convenience of discussion, these are divided into Al₂O₃ containing mixed oxide supports, TiO₂ containing mixed oxide supports, ZrO₂ containing mixed oxide supports and other mixed oxide supports containing all the rest. TiO₂ containing mixed oxides received maximum attention, especially TiO₂–Al₂O₃ supported catalysts. A brief discussion about their prospects for application to ultradeep desulfurization is also included. An overview of the available literature with emphasis on research carried out in our laboratory form the contents of this publication.     

混合Hermite-Lagrange插值之同时逼近

对于(-1,1)中的结点组{X_k}_(k=1)~n,记l_k(x)为相应的Lagrange插值基本多项式,又记A_n=‖∑(2-x~2-x_k~2)(1-x_k~2)~-1丨l_k(x)‖。对于f∈C_([-1,1)~q与r=[q+2/2],本文证明满足条件H_n(f,x_k)=f(x_k)(k=1,2,…,n),H_n~(s)(f,±1)=f~(s)(±1)(s=0,1,…,n-1)的n+2r-1次代数多项式H_n(f,x)有逼近性质H_n~(s)(f,x)-f~(s)(x)=(?)其中δ_n(x)=n~(-1)(1-x~2)~(1/2),△_n(x)=δ_n(x)+n~(-2).作为证明的重要工具,本文还对n次代数多项式P_n(x),建立了另一形式的Bernstein不等武:若 P_n(x)=O(1)δ_n~q(x)ω(δ_n(x)),则p_n~(S)(X)=O(1)δ_n~(q-2S)(X)ω(δ_n(X))△_n~s(X)。     

The treatment of waste-air containing mixed solvent using a biofilter 2. Treatment of waste-air containing ethanol and toluene in a biofilter

An experiment for five stages of a biofilter-run was performed to investigate the effect of hydrophilic ethanol and hydrophobic toluene on the biodegradation of hydrophobic toluene and hydrophilic ethanol, respectively, when waste-air containing toluene and ethanol was treated by a biofilter. Removal efficiencies of toluene and ethanol began to decrease when inlet load surpassed 90 g/m³/h and 100 g/m³/h consistent with maximum elimination capacities of toluene and ethanol, respectively. At the end of the biofilter-run, removal efficiencies for toluene and ethanol were decreased and maintained at 65% and 40%, respectively. The concentration of toluene at 1st sampling port was raised by factor of two in the 3rd stage of the biofilter run when the inlet load of ethanol co-feed was increased by 1.5 times, while the process conditions of toluene were maintained the same as those of the 2nd stage of biofilter-run. According to the result of Mohseni and Allen, it may be interpreted that removal efficiency of hydrophobic toluene was affected by the presence of hydrophilic ethanol when high load of hydrophobic toluene was applied like that of the 1st sampling port of the biofilter. However it was not the case when a low load of hydrophobic toluene was applied like those of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th sampling ports since hydrophobicity of toluene is much less that of α-pinene. Thus, it may be suggested that biodegradation of hydrophobic VOC was interfered by hydrophilic VOC dissolved in the biolayer and the degree of interference was proportional to the inlet load of hydrophobic VOC as well as that of hydrophilic VOC and was inversely proportional to the solubility of hydrophobic VOC. However, it was inferred that the existence of hydrophobic toluene from waste-air can hardly inversely hinder the removal of hydrophilic ethanol in the biofilter when timeevolutions of hydrophilic ethanol concentrations of this experiment were compared with those of the previous experiment of biofilter to treat waste-air containing ethanol only.     

液态混合有机标准物质研究

本研究采用重量法配制有机液态混合标样 ,并对配制方法、混合标样的均匀性、稳定性及影响不确定度的因素进行了研究 ,并用气相色谱法进行了比对分析。经稳定性监测 ,稳定度大于等于一年 ,不确定度小于± 2 %。