A comparison of shear stress estimation methods for a single geobag on a rough bed

There are several methods for estimating bed shear stress in the literature, but comprehensive comparisons among them are limited and under specific conditions. This study compared these methods first on a bare smooth bed, and then for a single geobag on a rough bed in the interest of determining the stability of geobags used in riverbank protection structures. The geobag was filled with cement or sand and tested under different open channel flow conditions. The turbulent kinetic energy method appeared to best represent the local bed shear stress on the geobag when using the newly calibrated proportionality constants. The Reynolds stress method via extrapolation was relatively unaffected by changes to the geobags shape and measurement locations, suggesting this method inadequately represents the local bed shear stress. The Patel method and the universal law of the wall method failed to represent local bed shear stress in the rough bed cases due to instrument limitations and the breakdown of the law of the wall. This study highlights the impact of different methods on the bed shear stress estimation.     

Coverage optimization algorithm based on VF-CS in mobile sensor network

A random placement of large-scale sensor network in the outdoor environment often causes low coverage.An area coverage optimization algorithm of mobile sensor network (MSN) based on virtual force perturbation and Cuckoo search (VF-CS) was proposed.Firstly,the virtual force of the sensor nodes within the Thiessen polygon was analyzed based on the partitioning of Voronoi diagram of the monitoring area.Secondly,the force of polygon vertices and neighbor nodes was taken as the perturbation factor for updating the node’s location of the Cuckoo search (CS).Finally,the VF-CS guided the node to move so as to achieve the optimal coverage.The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm has higher coverage and shorter average moving distance of nodes than the Voronoi diagram based algorithms in literatures.     

A values–beliefs–attitude model of local food consumption: An empirical study in China and Denmark

Consumers’ and policy makers’ interest in local foods is growing. Accordingly, researchers are also increasingly paying attention to the consumption of local foods. Studies have identified preference for local foods as an emergent consumer ideology called “locavorism”, but they have not yet addressed its antecedents or put it into a theoretical context. In addition, extant research provides several insights into local food buying behaviour in developed economies (e.g., USA, UK, Germany, or Italy); however, studies simultaneously conducted in developed and emerging economies are lacking. To address these research gaps, this study develops a conceptual framework with proposed relationships among values, beliefs (locavorism and fresh start mindset), and attitudes towards and intentions to purchase local foods in China and Denmark. We conducted an online survey in China and Denmark that evaluated our constructs with pre-developed multiple-item measures. Using structural equation modelling to test the integrated model, we find that values and long-term orientation are antecedents of consumer beliefs but the influences of values on consumer beliefs differ between collectivistic-dominated China and individualistic-dominated Denmark. Specifically, collectivistic values are significantly and positively related to locavorism in both countries, while individualistic values are strongly linked to locavorism only in Denmark; collectivistic values have no effects on fresh start mindset for the two samples, but individualistic values are significantly and positively related to a fresh start mindset in Denmark. In addition, consumer beliefs are significantly and positively associated with attitudes towards and intentions to buy local foods. Local food marketers can use our findings to target their communications more effectively.     

融入局部几何特征的流形谱聚类图像分割

为了改善谱聚类图像分割的精准性和时效性,文中提出融入局部几何特征的流形谱聚类图像分割算法.首先,考虑图像数据的流形结构,在数据点的K近邻域内执行局部PCA,得到数据间本征维数的关系.然后,引入流形学习中的局部线性重构技术,通过混合线性分析器得到数据间局部切空间的相似性,结合二者构造含有局部几何特征的相似性矩阵.再利用Nystr m技术逼近待分割图像的特征向量,对构造的k个主特征向量执行谱聚类.最后,在Berkeley数据集上的对比实验验证文中算法的准确性和时效性优势.     

Relevance- and interface-driven clustering for visual information retrieval

Search results of spatio-temporal data are often displayed on a map, but when the number of matching search results is large, it can be time-consuming to individually examine all results, even when using methods such as filtered search to narrow the content focus. This suggests the need to aggregate results via a clustering method. However, standard unsupervised clustering algorithms like $K$-means (i) ignore relevance scores that can help with the extraction of highly relevant clusters, and (ii) do not necessarily optimize search results for purposes of visual presentation. In this article, we address both deficiencies by framing the clustering problem for search-driven user interfaces in a novel optimization framework that (i) aims to maximize the relevance of aggregated content according to cluster-based extensions of standard information retrieval metrics and (ii) defines clusters via constraints that naturally reflect interface-driven desiderata of spatial, temporal, and keyword coherence that do not require complex ad-hoc distance metric specifications as in $K$-means. After comparatively benchmarking algorithmic variants of our proposed approach – RadiCAL – in offline experiments, we undertake a user study with 24 subjects to evaluate whether RadiCAL improves human performance on visual search tasks in comparison to $K$-means clustering and a filtered search baseline. Our results show that (a) our binary partitioning search (BPS) variant of RadiCAL is fast, near-optimal, and extracts higher-relevance clusters than $K$-means, and (b) clusters optimized via RadiCAL result in faster search task completion with higher accuracy while requiring a minimum workload leading to high effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction among alternatives.     

“电网一张图”时空信息管理系统

文章首先总结了电力企业信息管理系统的现状,提出了多源信息管理系统融合集成的邦联、子集和完全融合3种方式,分析了3种方式的优缺点,以建设企业"互联网搜索"型数字引擎为目标,提出了融合基于本体的图数据库建模,多维关联与路径因果分析,和人机共生互动可视化决策于一体的企业信息管理系统技术发展趋势;在系统分析目前正在快速发展的图数据库技术与传统关系数据库之间的本质区别基础上,总结原创的电力图计算平台技术的特点;在此基础上讨论"电网一张图"在建设能源互联网时空信息管理平台数据关联索引图中的核心作用,提出了支持能源互联网建设的"电网一张图"时空信息管理系统的技术架构与特点,最后总结"电网一张图"时空信息管理系统在提高电网安全运行水平、提升客户服务水平、增强清洁能源消纳水平、改善经营绩效水平、以及为综合能源服务和建设能源生态等提供数据服务方面的广阔应用场景。     

Hybrid self-inertia weight adaptive particle swarm optimisation with local search using C4.5 decision tree classifier for feature selection problems

ABSTRACT

Feature selection is an important task to improve the classifier’s accuracy and to decrease the problem size. A number of methodologies have been presented for feature selection problems using metaheuristic algorithms. In this paper, an improved self-adaptive inertia weight particle swarm optimisation with local search and combined with C4.5 classifiers for feature selection algorithm is proposed. In this proposed algorithm, the gradient base local search with its capacity of helping to explore the feature space and an improved self-adaptive inertia weight particle swarm optimisation with its ability to converge a best global solution in the search space. Experimental results have verified that the SIW-APSO-LS performed well compared with other state of art feature selection techniques on a suit of 16 standard data sets.     

Large neighborhood search for the bike request scheduling problem

This paper introduces an efficient algorithm for the bike request scheduling problem (BRSP). The BRSP is built around the concept of request, defined as the pickup or dropoff of a number of identical items (bikes) at a specific station, within a certain time window, and with a certain priority. The aim of the BRSP is to sequence requests on (and hence determine the routes of) a set of vehicles, in such a way that the sum of the priorities of the executed requests is maximized, all time windows are respected, and the capacity of the vehicles is not exceeded. The generation of the set of requests is explicitly not a part of the problem definition of the BRSP. The primary application of the BRSP, from which it derives its name, is to determine the routes of a set of repositioning vehicles in a bike sharing system, although other applications exist. The algorithm introduced in this paper is based on a set of related greedy randomized adaptive search procedure followed by variable neighborhood descent (GRASP + VND) operators embedded in a large neighborhood search (LNS) framework. Since this paper presents the first heuristic for the BRSP, a computational comparison to existing approaches is not possible. We therefore compare the solutions found by our LNS heuristic to those found by an exact solver (Gurobi). These experiments confirm that the proposed algorithm scales to realistic dimensions and is able to find near‐optimal solutions in seconds.     

An intelligent EGWO-SCA-CS algorithm for PSS parameter tuning under system uncertainties

This paper proposes a novel hybrid technique called enhanced grey wolf optimization-sine cosine algorithm-cuckoo search (EGWO-SCA-CS) algorithm to improve the electrical power system stability. The proposed method comprises of a popular grey wolf optimization (GWO) in an enhanced and hybrid form. It embraces the well-balanced exploration and exploitation using the cuckoo search (CS) algorithm and enhanced search capability through the sine cosine algorithm (SCA) to elude the stuck to the local optima. The proposed technique is validated with the 23 benchmark functions and compared with state-of-the-art methods. The benchmark functions consist of unimodal, multimodal function from which the best suitability of the proposed technique can be identified. The robustness analysis also presented with the proposed method through boxplot, and a detailed statistical analysis is performed for a set of 30 individual runs. From the inferences gathered from the benchmark functions, the proposed technique is applied to the stability problem of a power system, which is heavily stressed with the nonlinear variation of the load and thereby operating conditions. The dynamics of power system components have been considered for the mathematical model of a multimachine system, and multiobjective function has been framed in tuning the optimal controller parameters. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm has been assessed by considering two case studies, namely, (i) the optimal controller parameter tuning, and (ii) the coordination of oscillation damping devices in the power system stability enhancement. In the first case study, the power system stabilizer (PSS) is considered as a controller, and a self-clearing three-phase fault is considered as the system uncertainty. In contrast, static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) and PSS are considered as controllers to be coordinated, and perturbation in the system states as uncertainty in the second case study.     

Simultaneous identification of structural stiffness and mass parameters based on Bare-bones Gaussian Tree Seeds Algorithm using time-domain data

This paper mainly illustrates the Tree Seeds Algorithm (TSA) to tackle structural damage identification problem. The damage model is simulated by the alterations of both stiffness and mass parameters. The objective function is introduced by minimizing the differences between the measured and calculated acceleration data. To enhance the performance of the standard TSA, two modifications including the bare-bones Gaussian updated mechanism and the withering process are introduced. The modified algorithm is named after the BGTSA. In the numerical simulation part, the BGTSA is firstly used to make comparisons with several state-of-the-art algorithms on the CEC05. Secondly, the BGTSA is utilized to deal with the structural damage identification problem by optimizing the acceleration-based nonlinear objective function. Numerical experiments involving a simply supported beam and a truss are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. The final results show that with low amount of acceleration data, the BGTSA can acquire better identification results compared with other evolutionary algorithms. Therefore the proposed algorithm could be viewed as a potential tool to solve the structural damage identification problem.