A cost optimization-based design of precast concrete floors using genetic algorithms

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Optimization of the Transesterification Reaction in Biodiesel Production and Determination of Density and Viscosity of Biodiesel/Diesel Blends at Several Temperatures

Waste frying oil has been used to optimize the production of biodiesel. Biodiesel was prepared through sodium ethoxide catalyzed methanolysis from the transesterification of recycled waste frying oil. Optimization of the transesterification reaction for biodiesel production was carried out by means of statistical analyses using ANOVA. The optimum conditions for reaction were the following: a oil methanol mole ratio of 1:9, temperature of 50 degrees C, catalyst mass fraction of 0.9 %, and reaction time of 40 min, which enabled a yield of 98.7 % determined by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis. The density and viscosity of biodiesel/diesel blends have been determined as a function of composition at several temperatures.

A linear optimization approach to the combined production planning model

Two fundamental processes usually arise in the production planning of many industries. The first one consists of deciding how many final products of each type have to be produced in each period of a planning horizon, the well-known lot sizing problem. The other process consists of cutting raw materials in stock in order to produce smaller parts used in the assembly of final products, the well-studied cutting stock problem. In this paper the decision variables of these two problems are dependent of each other in order to obtain a global optimum solution. Setups that are typically present in lot sizing problems are relaxed together with integer frequencies of cutting patterns in the cutting problem. Therefore, a large scale linear optimizations problem arises, which is exactly solved by a column generated technique. It is worth noting that this new combined problem still takes the trade-off between storage costs (for final products and the parts) and trim losses (in the cutting process). We present some sets of computational tests, analyzed over three different scenarios. These results show that, by combining the problems and using an exact method, it is possible to obtain significant gains when compared to the usual industrial practice, which solve them in sequence. (C) 2010 The Franklin Institute. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Optimization of Radial Basis Function neural network employed for prediction of surface roughness in hard turning process using Taguchi's orthogonal arrays

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

A GEP-ISFG collaborative study on the optimization of an X-STR decaplex: data on 15 Iberian and Latin American populations

In a collaborative work carried out by the Spanish and Portuguese ISFG Working Group (GEP-ISFG), a polymerase chain reaction multiplex was optimized in order to type ten X-chromosome short tandem repeats (STRs) in a single reaction, including: DXS8378, DXS9902, DXS7132, DXS9898, DXS6809, DXS6789, DXS7133, GATA172D05, GATA31E08, and DXS7423. Using this X-decaplex, each 17 of the participating laboratories typed a population sample of approximately 200 unrelated individuals (100 males and 100 females). In this work, we report the allele frequencies for the ten X-STRs in 15 samples from Argentina (Buenos Aires, CA(3)rdoba, Rio Negro, Entre Rios, and Misiones), Brazil (SA o pound Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Parana, and Mato Grosso do Sul), Colombia (Antioquia), Costa Rica, Portugal (Northern and Central regions), and Spain (Galicia and Cantabria). Gene diversities were calculated for the ten markers in each population and all values were above 56%. The average diversity per locus varied between 66%, for DXS7133, and 82%, for DXS6809. For this set of STRs, a high discrimination power was obtained in all populations, both in males (a parts per thousand yen1 in 5 A- 10(5)) and females (a parts per thousand yen1 in 3 A- 10(9)), as well as high mean exclusion chance in father/daughter duos (a parts per thousand yen99.953%) and in father/mother/daughter trios (a parts per thousand yen99.999%). Genetic distance analysis showed no significant differences between northern and central Portugal or between the two Spanish samples from Galicia and Cantabria. Inside Brazil, significant differences were found between Rio de Janeiro and the other three populations, as well as between SA o pound Paulo and Parana. For the five Argentinean samples, significant distances were only observed when comparing Misiones with Entre Rios and with Rio Negro, the only two samples that do not differ significantly from Costa Rica. Antioquia differed from all other samples, except the one from Rio Negro.

Analytical optimization of spread and change of exponential decay of generalized Wannier functions in one dimension

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Characterization, feasibility and optimization of Agaricus subrufescens growth based on chemical elements on casing layer

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Cogeneration system design optimization

Cogeneration system design deals with several parameters in the synthesis phase, where not only a thermal cycle must be indicated but the general arrangement, type, capacity and number of machines need to be defined. This problem is not trivial because many parameters are considered as goals in the project. An optimization technique that considers costs and revenues, reliability, pollutant emissions and exergetic efficiency as goals to be reached in the synthesis phase of a cogeneration system design process is presented. A discussion of appropriated values and the results for a pulp and paper plant integration to a cogeneration system are shown in order to illustrate the proposed methodology.

A recursive approach to space resection using straight lines

An approach using straight lines as features to solve the photogrammetric space resection problem is presented. An explicit mathematical model relating straight lines, in both object and image space, is used. Based on this model, Kalman Filtering is applied to solve the space resection problem. The recursive property of the filter is used in an iterative process which uses the sequentially estimated camera location parameters to feedback to the feature extraction process in the image. This feedback process leads to a gradual reduction of the image space for feature searching, and consequently eliminates the bottleneck due to the high computational cost of the image segmentation phase. It also enables feature extraction and the determination of feature correspondence in image and object space in an automatic way, i.e., without operator interference. Results obtained from simulated and real data show that highly accurate space resection parameters are obtained as well as a progressive processing time reduction. The obtained accuracy, the automatic correspondence process, and the short related processing time show that the proposed approach can be used in many real-time machine vision systems, making possible the implementation of applications not feasible until now.

Cogeneration system design optimization

Cogeneration system design deals with several parameters in the synthesis phase, where not only a thermal cycle must be indicated but the general arrangement, type, capacity and number of machines need to be defined. This problem is not trivial because many parameters are considered as goals in the project. An optimization technique that considers costs and revenues, reliability, pollutant emissions and exergetic efficiency as goals to be reached in the synthesis phase of a cogeneration system design process is presented. A discussion of appropriated values and the results for a pulp and paper plant integration to a cogeneration system are shown in order to illustrate the proposed methodology.

Optimization of yogurt production using demineralized whey

The effect of three independent fermentation variables: demineralized whey powder (0.0; 1.5 and 3.0%), lactic culture concentration (1.0; 2.0 and 3.0%) and mix treatment temperature (85; 90 and 95°C) was studied. Fermentation time to reach pH 4.3, instrumental consistency and appearance, visual consistency and taste of the product were evaluated. Product consistency increased as mix treatment temperature increased and demineralized whey powder decreased. The powder had a stronger influence on instrumental consistency than did temperature. Appearance was better when whey powder was used at 1.4 to 1.6%. Visual consistency decreased as whey powder increased but addition of demineralized whey powder did not negatively affect yogurt flavor.

Comparative studies on non-convex optimization methods for transmission network expansion planning

We have investigated and extensively tested three families of non-convex optimization approaches for solving the transmission network expansion planning problem: simulated annealing (SA), genetic algorithms (GA), and tabu search algorithms (TS). The paper compares the main features of the three approaches and presents an integrated view of these methodologies. A hybrid approach is then proposed which presents performances which are far better than the ones obtained with any of these approaches individually. Results obtained in tests performed with large scale real-life networks are summarized.

Combining genetic algorithm and simulated annealing: A molecular geometry optimization study

We introduce a new hybrid approach to determine the ground state geometry of molecular systems. Firstly, we compared the ability of genetic algorithm (GA) and simulated annealing (SA) to find the lowest energy geometry of silicon clusters with six and 10 atoms. This comparison showed that GA exhibits fast initial convergence, but its performance deteriorates as it approaches the desired global extreme. Interestingly, SA showed a complementary convergence pattern, in addition to high accuracy. Our new procedure combines selected features from GA and SA to achieve weak dependence on initial parameters, parallel search strategy, fast convergence and high accuracy. This hybrid algorithm outperforms GA and SA by one order of magnitude for small silicon clusters (Si6 and Si10). Next, we applied the hybrid method to study the geometry of a 20-atom silicon cluster. It was able to find an original geometry, apparently lower in energy than those previously described in literature. In principle, our procedure can be applied successfully to any molecular system. © 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.

Optimization procedures in the design of continuous induction hardening and tempering installations for magnetic steel bars

An inverse problem concerning the industrial process of steel bars hardening and tempering is considered. The associated optimization problem is formulated in terms of membership functions and, for the sake of comparison, also in terms of quadratic residuals; both geometric and electromagnetic design variables have been considered. The numerical solution is achieved by coupling a finite difference procedure for the calculation of the electromagnetic and thermal fields to a deterministic strategy of minimization based on modified Flctcher and Reeves method. © 1998 IEEE.

Differential dispersion relations with an arbitrary number of subtractions: A recursive approach

Making use of a recursive approach, derivative dispersion relations are generalized for an arbitrary number of subtractions. The results for both cross even and odd amplitudes are theoretically consistent at sufficiently high energies and in the region of small momentum transfer. © 1999 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.