ARbility: re-inviting older wheelchair users to in-store shopping via wearable augmented reality

Virtual Reality - Engaging in outdoor daily activities such as shopping is an essential, yet challenging activity for older wheelchair users (OWU). However, little is investigated on how to augment...     

Private Investor-based Transmission Expansion Planning in Deregulated Environments

Abstract—Deregulation in power systems creates new uncertainties and escalates the previous ones. The presence of these uncertainties causes the transmission network to remain a monopoly and the private investors not to be interested in investing in new transmission lines. This article presents a new merchant-based transmission network expansion planning algorithm from the viewpoint of private investors. The point estimation method is used to handle the uncertainties, and the genetic algorithm is used as the optimization tool. The proposed method provides insights for private investors to deal with the uncertainties and to find appropriate transmission projects in which to invest.     

New smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) formulation for modeling heat conduction with solidification and melting

When modeling the phase change, the latent heat released (absorbed) during solidification (melting) must be included in the heat transfer equation. In this paper, different smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) methods for the implementation of latent heat, in the context of transient heat conduction, are derived and tested. First, SPH discretizations of two finite element methods are presented, but these prove to be computationally expensive. Then, by starting from a simple approximation and enhancing accuracy using different numerical treatments, a new SPH method is introduced, that is fast and easy to implement. An evaluation of this new method on various analytical and numerical results confirms its accuracy and robustness.     

A bi-level network interdiction model for solving the hazmat routing problem

In the current work, we considered the problem of hazardous material distribution where the distributer chooses the routes on the network, and a regulatory agency controls the behaviour of the distributer to traverse the specified routes. In these circumstances, the distributer sets to select some routes to minimise the total distributing costs. Mostly, this occurs due to selecting risky arcs in which more individuals are exposed to risk. To prevent this and increase the capability to deal with the risk of hazardous material transportation through roads, the regulatory agency obliges carriers to traverse through the most secure arcs, though imposing more distribution costs. The problem is modelled as a bi-level routing problem. The bi-level model is difficult to solve and may be ill-posed. Two meta-heuristic algorithms are proposed to solve the bi-level model, and some randomly generated problems are applied to show the applicability and efficiency of the proposed algorithms.     

Generating Texture for 3D Human Avatar from a Single Image using Sampling and Refinement Networks

There has been significant progress in generating an animatable 3D human avatar from a single image. However, recovering texture for the 3D human avatar from a single image has been relatively less addressed. Because the generated 3D human avatar reveals the occluded texture of the given image as it moves, it is critical to synthesize the occluded texture pattern that is unseen from the source image. To generate a plausible texture map for 3D human avatars, the occluded texture pattern needs to be synthesized with respect to the visible texture from the given image. Moreover, the generated texture should align with the surface of the target 3D mesh. In this paper, we propose a texture synthesis method for a 3D human avatar that incorporates geometry information. The proposed method consists of two convolutional networks for the sampling and refining process. The sampler network fills in the occluded regions of the source image and aligns the texture with the surface of the target 3D mesh using the geometry information. The sampled texture is further refined and adjusted by the refiner network. To maintain the clear details in the given image, both sampled and refined texture is blended to produce the final texture map. To effectively guide the sampler network to achieve its goal, we designed a curriculum learning scheme that starts from a simple sampling task and gradually progresses to the task where the alignment needs to be considered. We conducted experiments to show that our method outperforms previous methods qualitatively and quantitatively.     

Numerical Study of Suspension Plasma Spraying

A numerical study of suspension plasma spraying is presented in the current work. The liquid suspension jet is replaced with a train of droplets containing the suspension particles injected into the plasma flow. Atomization, evaporation, and melting of different components are considered for droplets and particles as they travel toward the substrate. Effect of different parameters on particle conditions during flight and upon impact on the substrate is investigated. Initially, influence of the torch operating conditions such as inlet flow rate and power is studied. Additionally, effect of injector parameters like injection location, flow rate, and angle is examined. The model used in the current study takes high-temperature gradients and non-continuum effects into account. Moreover, the important effect of change in physical properties of suspension droplets as a result of evaporation is included in the model. These mainly include variations in heat transfer properties and viscosity. Utilizing this improved model, several test cases have been considered to better evaluate the effect of different parameters on the quality of particles during flight and upon impact on the substrate.     

A biofuel supply chain equilibrium analysis with subsidy consideration

We consider a biofuel supply chain problem in which a farmer supplies two downstream refineries with nonidentical crops (corn and energy crop). The problem has been modeled as a multi leader single follower game to derive the farmer's decisions on land use as well as refineries' proposed prices to the farmer. We consider subsidizing the farmer and the refinery that uses the energy crop to study whether a subsidy plan can enhance the advanced biofuel production and meet the mandate of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This mandate requires the production of 36 billion gallons of biofuel, out of which 21 billion gallons should be noncorn‐based biofuel. We solve the problem under four cases based on the willingness of the farmer to sell corn to the food market as well as the availability of land expansion for her. The Nash equilibrium is derived for all cases, and parametric analyses are used to study the effect of subsidies on the profit of the players and the total social welfare of the supply chain. We observe that a government's expenditure can be offset by the increase of the social welfare under certain circumstances. We find the minimum budget requirement to meet the EPA's mandate and show that a specific budget can be distributed in different ways while obtaining the same results.     

Applying forward and reverse cross-docking in a multi-product integrated supply chain network

To come up with today’s competitive priorities, companies are always looking for new ways to optimize their processes. Integrated forward/reverse supply chain management is treated as a necessary response to the call for corporate sustainability in logistics networks. Also, due to growing environmental and economic concerns, the recycling of used products is becoming a common practice. It is recently remarkable that applying cross-docking in forward logistics has been recognized as an important field of performance improvement, however, approaches to consider this strategy in the both forward and reverse contexts (simultaneously) are far lacking. To cover these gaps, this paper indicates how cross-docking can be efficiently implemented in a forward/reverse structure, and in this regards, proposes an integrated multi-product supply chain network. To study the problem, we firstly present a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model to minimize total costs. Secondly, to solve the obtained model, we use the general algebraic modeling system (GAMS) software. Furthermore, the model performance is evaluated through comparing the case of using forward/reverse cross-docking with that of not applying this strategy (classical approach) in the network configuration—in terms of defining two theories. Finally, the significant outcomes resulted from utilizing forward/reverse cross-docking in the network are discussed. Considered the above requirements, the model increases the efficiency of the integrated forward/reverse logistics.