On the differential evolution algorithm and its appliation to training radial basis function networks

The parameter setting of a differential evolution algorithm must meet several requirements: efficiency, effectiveness, and reliability. Problems vary. The solution of a particular problem can be represented in different ways. An algorithm most efficient in dealing with a particular representation may be less efficient in dealing with other representations. The development of differential evolution-based methods contributes substantially to research on evolutionary computing and global optimization in general. The objective of this study is to investigatethe differential evolution algorithm, the intelligent adjustment of its controlparameters, and its application. In the thesis, the differential evolution algorithm is first examined using different parameter settings and test functions. Fuzzy control is then employed to make control parameters adaptive based on an optimization process and expert knowledge. The developed algorithms are applied to training radial basis function networks for function approximation with possible variables including centers, widths, and weights of basis functions and both having control parameters kept fixed and adjusted by fuzzy controller. After the influence of control variables on the performance of the differential evolution algorithm was explored, an adaptive version of the differential evolution algorithm was developed and the differential evolution-based radial basis function network training approaches were proposed. Experimental results showed that the performance of the differential evolution algorithm is sensitive to parameter setting, and the best setting was found to be problem dependent. The fuzzy adaptive differential evolution algorithm releases the user load of parameter setting and performs better than those using all fixedparameters. Differential evolution-based approaches are effective for training Gaussian radial basis function networks.

Artificially Intelligent and Adaptive Methods for Prediction and Analysis of Superheater Fireside Corrosion in Fluidized Bed Boilers

Superheater corrosion causes vast annual losses for the power companies. With a reliable corrosion prediction method, the plants can be designed accordingly, and knowledge of fuel selection and determination of process conditions may be utilized to minimize superheater corrosion. Growing interest to use recycled fuels creates additional demands for the prediction of corrosion potential. Models depending on corrosion theories will fail, if relations between the inputs and the output are poorly known. A prediction model based on fuzzy logic and an artificial neural network is able to improve its performance as the amount of data increases. The corrosion rate of a superheater material can most reliably be detected with a test done in a test combustor or in a commercial boiler. The steel samples can be located in a special, temperature-controlled probe, and exposed to the corrosive environment for a desired time. These tests give information about the average corrosion potential in that environment. Samples may also be cut from superheaters during shutdowns. The analysis ofsamples taken from probes or superheaters after exposure to corrosive environment is a demanding task: if the corrosive contaminants can be reliably analyzed, the corrosion chemistry can be determined, and an estimate of the material lifetime can be given. In cases where the reason for corrosion is not clear, the determination of the corrosion chemistry and the lifetime estimation is more demanding. In order to provide a laboratory tool for the analysis and prediction, a newapproach was chosen. During this study, the following tools were generated: · Amodel for the prediction of superheater fireside corrosion, based on fuzzy logic and an artificial neural network, build upon a corrosion database developed offuel and bed material analyses, and measured corrosion data. The developed model predicts superheater corrosion with high accuracy at the early stages of a project. · An adaptive corrosion analysis tool based on image analysis, constructedas an expert system. This system utilizes implementation of user-defined algorithms, which allows the development of an artificially intelligent system for thetask. According to the results of the analyses, several new rules were developed for the determination of the degree and type of corrosion. By combining these two tools, a user-friendly expert system for the prediction and analyses of superheater fireside corrosion was developed. This tool may also be used for the minimization of corrosion risks by the design of fluidized bed boilers.

Education and Training in Forensic Intelligence: a New Challenge

From recent calls for positioning forensic scientists within the criminal justice system, but also policing and intelligence missions, this paper emphasizes the need for the development of educational and training programs in the area of forensic intelligence, It is argued that an imbalance exists between perceived and actual understanding of forensic intelligence by police and forensic science managers, and that this imbalance can only be overcome through education. The challenge for forensic intelligence education and training is therefore to devise programs that increase forensic intelligence awareness, firstly for managers to help prevent poor decisions on how to develop information processing. Two recent European courses are presented as examples of education offerings, along with lessons learned and suggested paths forward. It is concluded that the new focus on forensic intelligence could restore a pro-active approach to forensic science, better quantify its efficiency and let it get more involved in investigative and managerial decisions. A new educational challenge is opened to forensic science university programs around the world: to refocus criminal trace analysis on a more holistic security problem solving approach.

Reusable Bluetooth Networking Component for Symbian Operating System

Tässä diplomityössä käsitellään eri näkökulmia ohjelmistojen uudelleenkäyttöön sekä esitellään perustiedot langattomiin laitteisiin käytettävästä Symbian-käyttöjärjestelmästä ja langattomasta Bluetooth-teknologiasta. Työn käytännön osuudessa suunniteltiin ja toteutettiin uudelleenkäytettävä Bluetooth-ohjelmistokomponentti Symbiankäyttöjärjestelmälle. Ohjelmistojen uudelleenkäytön edut ovat erittäin selkeitä. Uudelleenkäytettävät ohjelmistokomponentit parantavat ohjelmiston laatua ja suorituskykyä. Ohjelmistotuotteiden tuotekehityssykliä voidaan lyhentää merkittävästi ja kehitystyön kokonaiskustannuksia voidaan alentaa tehokkaalla uudelleenkäyttöohjelmalla. Kuitenkin uudelleenkäytöllä on myös esteitä, esimerkkeinä näistä ovat mm. resurssien puute, koulutus sekä uudelleenkäytön vastaiset asenteet. Bluetooth-teknologia on kypsynyt viimeisen kahden vuoden aikana, kun markkinoille on tullut yhä enemmän Bluetooth-laitteita ja niitä käyttäviä sovelluksia. Kehitetty komponentti tarjoaa perustoiminnallisuudet Bluetooth-yhteyksien muodostamiselle ja datan siirtämiselle laitteiden välillä.

Does working memory training affect decision making ? : a neuroeconomic study

We all make decisions of varying levels of importance every day. Because making a decision implies that there are alternative choices to be considered, almost all decision involves some conflicts or dissatisfaction. Traditional economic models esteem that a person must weight the positive and negative outcomes of each option, and based on all these inferences, determines which option is the best for that particular situation. However, individuals rather act as irrational agents and tend to deviate from these rational choices. They somewhat evaluate the outcomes' subjective value, namely, when they face a risky choice leading to losses, people are inclined to have some preference for risk over certainty, while when facing a risky choice leading to gains, people often avoid to take risks and choose the most certain option. Yet, it is assumed that decision making is balanced between deliberative and emotional components. Distinct neural regions underpin these factors: the deliberative pathway that corresponds to executive functions, implies the activation of the prefrontal cortex, while the emotional pathway tends to activate the limbic system. These circuits appear to be altered in individuals with ADHD, and result, amongst others, in impaired decision making capacities. Their impulsive and inattentive behaviors are likely to be the cause of their irrational attitude towards risk taking. Still, a possible solution is to administrate these individuals a drug treatment, with the knowledge that it might have several side effects. However, an alternative treatment that relies on cognitive rehabilitation might be appropriate. This project was therefore aimed at investigate whether an intensive working memory training could have a spillover effect on decision making in adults with ADHD and in age-matched healthy controls. We designed a decision making task where the participants had to select an amount to gamble with the chance of 1/3 to win four times the chosen amount, while in the other cases they could loose their investment. Their performances were recorded using electroencephalography prior and after a one-month Dual N-Back training and the possible near and far transfer effects were investigated. Overall, we found that the performance during the gambling task was modulated by personality factors and by the importance of the symptoms at the pretest session. At posttest, we found that all individuals demonstrated an improvement on the Dual N-Back and on similar untrained dimensions. In addition, we discovered that not only the adults with ADHD showed a stable decrease of the symptomatology, as evaluated by the CAARS inventory, but this reduction was also detected in the control samples. In addition, Event-Related Potential (ERP) data are in favor of an change within prefrontal and parietal cortices. These results suggest that cognitive remediation can be effective in adults with ADHD, and in healthy controls. An important complement of this work would be the examination of the data in regard to the attentional networks, which could empower the fact that complex programs covering the remediation of several executive functions' dimensions is not required, a unique working memory training can be sufficient. -- Nous prenons tous chaque jour des décisions ayant des niveaux d'importance variables. Toutes les décisions ont une composante conflictuelle et d'insatisfaction, car prendre une décision implique qu'il y ait des choix alternatifs à considérer. Les modèles économiques traditionnels estiment qu'une personne doit peser les conséquences positives et négatives de chaque option et en se basant sur ces inférences, détermine quelle option est la meilleure dans une situation particulière. Cependant, les individus peuvent dévier de ces choix rationnels. Ils évaluent plutôt les valeur subjective des résultats, c'est-à-dire que lorsqu'ils sont face à un choix risqué pouvant les mener à des pertes, les gens ont tendance à avoir des préférences pour le risque à la place de la certitude, tandis que lorsqu'ils sont face à un choix risqué pouvant les conduire à un gain, ils évitent de prendre des risques et choisissent l'option la plus su^re. De nos jours, il est considéré que la prise de décision est balancée entre des composantes délibératives et émotionnelles. Ces facteurs sont sous-tendus par des régions neurales distinctes: le chemin délibératif, correspondant aux fonctions exécutives, implique l'activation du cortex préfrontal, tandis que le chemin émotionnel active le système limbique. Ces circuits semblent être dysfonctionnels chez les individus ayant un TDAH, et résulte, entre autres, en des capacités de prise de décision altérées. Leurs comportements impulsifs et inattentifs sont probablement la cause de ces attitudes irrationnelles face au risque. Cependant, une solution possible est de leur administrer un traitement médicamenteux, en prenant en compte les potentiels effets secondaires. Un traitement alternatif se reposant sur une réhabilitation cognitive pourrait être appropriée. Le but de ce projet est donc de déterminer si un entrainement intensif de la mémoire de travail peut avoir un effet sur la prise de décision chez des adultes ayant un TDAH et chez des contrôles sains du même âge. Nous avons conçu une tâche de prise de décision dans laquelle les participants devaient sélectionner un montant à jouer en ayant une chance sur trois de gagner quatre fois le montant choisi, alors que dans l'autre cas, ils pouvaient perdre leur investissement. Leurs performances ont été enregistrées en utilisant l'électroencéphalographie avant et après un entrainement d'un mois au Dual N-Back, et nous avons étudié les possibles effets de transfert. Dans l'ensemble, nous avons trouvé au pré-test que les performances au cours du jeu d'argent étaient modulées par les facteurs de personnalité, et par le degré des sympt^omes. Au post-test, nous avons non seulement trouvé que les adultes ayant un TDAH montraient une diminutions stable des symptômes, qui étaient évalués par le questionnaire du CAARS, mais que cette réduction était également perçue dans l'échantillon des contrôles. Les rsultats expérimentaux mesurés à l'aide de l'éléctroencéphalographie suggèrent un changement dans les cortex préfrontaux et pariétaux. Ces résultats suggèrent que la remédiation cognitive est efficace chez les adultes ayant un TDAH, mais produit aussi un effet chez les contrôles sains. Un complément important de ce travail pourrait examiner les données sur l'attention, qui pourraient renforcer l'idée qu'il n'est pas nécessaire d'utiliser des programmes complexes englobant la remédiation de plusieurs dimensions des fonctions exécutives, un simple entraiment de la mémoire de travail devrait suffire.

A Multiagent System for Coordinating Ambulances for Emergency Medical Services

To coordinate ambulances for emergency medical services, a multiagent system uses an auction mechanism based on trust. Results of tests using real data show that this system can efficiently assign ambulances to patients, thereby reducing transportation time. Emergency transportation on specialized vehicles is needed when a person's health is in risk of irreparable damage. A patient can't benefit from sophisticated medical treatments and technologies if she or he isn't placed in a proper healthcare center with the appropriate medical team. For example, strokes are neurological emergencies involving a limited amount of time in which treatment measures are effective

Escacs, un sistema intel·ligent

Des dels inicis dels ordinadors com a màquines programables, l’home ha intentat dotar-los de certa intel•ligència per tal de pensar o raonar el més semblant possible als humans. Un d’aquests intents ha sigut fer que la màquina sigui capaç de pensar de tal manera que estudiï jugades i guanyi partides d’escacs. En l’actualitat amb els actuals sistemes multi tasca, orientat a objectes i accés a memòria i gràcies al potent hardware del que disposem, comptem amb una gran varietat de programes que es dediquen a jugar a escacs. Però no hi ha només programes petits, hi ha fins i tot màquines senceres dedicades a calcular i estudiar jugades per tal de guanyar als millors jugadors del món. L’objectiu del meu treball és dur a terme un estudi i implementació d’un d’aquests programes, per això es divideix en dues parts. La part teòrica o de l’estudi, consta d’un estudi dels sistemes d’intel•ligència artificial que es dediquen a jugar a escacs, estudi i cerca d’una funció d’avaluació vàlida i estudi dels algorismes de cerca. La part pràctica del treball es basa en la implementació d’un sistema intel•ligent capaç de jugar a escacs amb certa lògica. Aquesta implementació es porta a terme amb l’ajuda de les llibreries SDL, utilitzant l’algorisme minimax amb poda alfa-beta i codi c++. Com a conclusió del projecte m’agradaria remarcar que l’estudi realitzat m’ha deixat veure que crear un joc d’escacs no era tan fàcil com jo pensava però m’ha aportat la satisfacció d’aplicar tot el que he après durant la carrera i de descobrir moltes altres coses noves.

CRM system implementation for managing customer relationships in business-to-business markets

Tutkielman tavoitteena oli selvittää, kuinka CRM-järjestelmä otetaan käyttöön asiakkuuksienhallinnan tueksi yritysten välisillä markkinoilla. Tutkielma keskittyy erityisesti käyttöönoton varhaisiin vaiheisiin selvittämällä, mikä on järjestelmien rooli asiakkuudenhallinnassa ja miten ne tukevat erilaisia käyttäjätasoja, jotka työssä jaettiin strategiseksi, operatiiviseksi ja analyyttiseksi tasoksi. Lisäksi työ esittelee käyttöönottoon yleisimmin liittyviä sudenkuoppia. Tutkielma on laadullinen tutkimus ja siinä on kuvattu CRM-järjestelmän käyttöönottoon liittyviä kysymyksiä yritysten välisillä markkinoilla toimivan caseyrityksen näkökulmasta. Tutkimuksessa havaittiin, että CRM-järjestelmän onnistunut käyttöönotto vaatii mahdollisimman yksinkertaista ja helppokäyttöistä järjestelmää. Käyttöönoton ei myöskään tulisi vaatia monimutkaista koulutusta, vaikkakin koulutusten tärkeys tunnistettiin. Tutkimus osoitti, että vaikka tämänhetkiset CRM-järjestelmät keskittyvät enemmän yksityiskohtaisten asiakasanalyysien tekoon, järjestelmä voi myös palvella asiakkaisiin liittyvän tiedon yhteisenä tallennus- ja jakamispaikkana. Lisäksi tutkimuksessa todettiin, että useimmiten potentiaaliset sudenkuopat olivat luonteeltaan hyvin käytännönläheisiä, kuten järjestelmän käyttämättömyys sekä huono motivointi ja sitouttaminen.

Financial performance of segments in the intelligent home network

The goal of this study is to examine the intelligent home business network in order to determine which part of the network has the best financial abilities to produce new business models and products/services by using financial statement analysis. A group of 377 studied limited companies is divided into four examined segments based on their offering in producing intelligent homes. The segments are customer service providers, system integrators, subsystem suppliers and component suppliers. Eight different key figures are calculated from each of the companies to get a comprehensive view of their financial performances, after which each of the segments is studied statistically to determine the performances of the whole segments. The actual performance differences between the segments are calculated by using the multi-criteria decision analysis method in which the performances of the key figures are graded and each key figure is weighted according to its importance for the goal of the study. The results of this analysis showed that subsystem suppliers have the best financial performance. Second best are system integrators, third are customer service providers and fourth component suppliers. None of the segments were strikingly poor, but even component suppliers were rather reasonable in their performance; so, it can be said that no part of the intelligent home business network has remarkably inadequate financial abilities to develop new business models and products/services.

Novel force control methods in a teleoperation system of a hydraulic slider

The objective of the this research project is to develop a novel force control scheme for the teleoperation of a hydraulically driven manipulator, and to implement an ideal transparent mapping between human and machine interaction, and machine and task environment interaction. This master‘s thesis provides a preparatory study for the present research project. The research is limited into a single degree of freedom hydraulic slider with 6-DOF Phantom haptic device. The key contribution of the thesis is to set up the experimental rig including electromechanical haptic device, hydraulic servo and 6-DOF force sensor. The slider is firstly tested as a position servo by using previously developed intelligent switching control algorithm. Subsequently the teleoperated system is set up and the preliminary experiments are carried out. In addition to development of the single DOF experimental set up, methods such as passivity control in teleoperation are reviewed. The thesis also contains review of modeling of the servo slider in particular reference to the servo valve. Markov Chain Monte Carlo method is utilized in developing the robustness of the model in presence of noise.

Low cost driver device for microclimate maintenance in the pre-milking of dairy cattle

Due to the importance of the environment on animal production and thus environmental control, the study aims to build a system for monitoring and control the meteorological variables, temperature and relative humidity, low cost, which can be associated with an evaporative cooling system (ECS). The system development included all the stages of assembly, test and laboratory calibration, and later the validation of the equipment carried in the field. The validation step showed results which allowed concluding that the system can be safely used in the monitoring of these variables. The controller was efficient in management of the microclimate in the waiting corral and allowed the maintenance of the air temperature within the comfort range for dairy cattle in pre-milking with averaged 25.09 ºC during the afternoon. The equipment showed the lower cost (R$ 325.76) when compared to other middle market (R$ 450.00).

Development of a measuring-control system for energy monitoring in low power

In this thesis a control system for an intelligent low voltage energy grid is presented, focusing on the control system created by using a multi-agent approach which makes it versatile and easy to expand according to the future needs. The control system is capable of forecasting the future energy consumption and decisions making on its own without human interaction when countering problems. The control system is a part of the St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University’s smart grid project that aims to create a smart grid for the university’s own use. The concept of the smart grid is interesting also for the consumers as it brings new possibilities to control own energy consumption and to save money. Smart grids makes it possible to monitor the energy consumption in real-time and to change own habits to save money. The intelligent grid also brings possibilities to integrate the renewable energy sources to the global or the local energy production much better than the current systems. Consumers can also sell their extra power to the global grid if they want.

E-PORT. Improving efficiency of Finnish port community by intelligent systems Final report of the Mobile Port project

The management of port-related supply chains is challenging due to the complex and heterogeneous operations of the ports with several actors and processes. That is why the importance of information sharing is emphasised in the ports. However, the information exchange between different port-related actors is often cumbersome and it still involves a lot of manual work and paper. Major ports and port-related actors usually have advanced information systems in daily use but these systems are seldom interoperable with each other, which prevents economies of scale to be reached. Smaller ports and companies might not be equipped with electronic data transmission at all. This is the final report of the Mobile port (MOPO) project, which has sought ways to improve the management and control of port-related sea and inland traffic with the aid of ICT technologies. The project has studied port community systems (PCS) used worldwide, evaluated the suitability of a PCS for the Finnish port operating environment and created a pilot solution of a Finnish PCS in the port of HaminaKotka. Further, the dry port concept and its influences on the transportation system have been explored. The Mobile Port project comprised of several literature reviews, interviews of over 50 port-related logistics and/or ICT professionals, two different kinds of simulation models as well as designing and implementing of the pilot solution of the Finnish PCS. The results of these multiple studies are summarised in this report. Furthermore, recommendations for future actions and the topics for further studies are addressed in the report. The study revealed that the information sharing in a typical Finnish port-related supply chain contains several bottlenecks that cause delays in shipments and waste resources. The study showed that many of these bottlenecks could be solved by building a port community system for the Finnish port community. Almost 30 different kinds of potential services or service entities of a Finnish PCS were found out during the study. The basic requirements, structure, interfaces and operation model of the Finnish PCS were also defined in the study. On the basis of the results of the study, a pilot solution of the Finnish PCS was implemented in the port of HaminaKotka. The pilot solution includes a Portconnect portal for the Finnish port community system (available at https://www.portconnect.fi) and two pilot applications, which are a service for handling the information flows concerning the movements of railway wagons and a service for handling the information flows between Finnish ports and Finland-Russian border. The study also showed that port community systems can be used to improve the environmental aspects of logistics in two different ways: 1) PCSs can bring direct environmental benefits and 2) PCSs can be used as an environmental tool in a port community. On the basis of the study, the development of the Finnish port community system should be continued by surveying other potential applications for the Finnish PCS. It is also important to study if there is need and resources to extend the Finnish PCS to operate in several ports or even on a national level. In the long run, it could be reasonable to clarify whether there would be possibilities to connect the Finnish PCS as a part of Baltic Sea wide, European-wide or even worldwide maritime and port-related network in order to get the best benefit from the system

AMB system for high-speed motors using automatic commissioning

The general trend towards increasing e ciency and energy density drives the industry to high-speed technologies. Active Magnetic Bearings (AMBs) are one of the technologies that allow contactless support of a rotating body. Theoretically, there are no limitations on the rotational speed. The absence of friction, low maintenance cost, micrometer precision, and programmable sti ness have made AMBs a viable choice for highdemanding applications. Along with the advances in power electronics, such as signi cantly improved reliability and cost, AMB systems have gained a wide adoption in the industry. The AMB system is a complex, open-loop unstable system with multiple inputs and outputs. For normal operation, such a system requires a feedback control. To meet the high demands for performance and robustness, model-based control techniques should be applied. These techniques require an accurate plant model description and uncertainty estimations. The advanced control methods require more e ort at the commissioning stage. In this work, a methodology is developed for an automatic commissioning of a subcritical, rigid gas blower machine. The commissioning process includes open-loop tuning of separate parts such as sensors and actuators. The next step is to apply a system identi cation procedure to obtain a model for the controller synthesis. Finally, a robust model-based controller is synthesized and experimentally evaluated in the full operating range of the system. The commissioning procedure is developed by applying only the system components available and a priori knowledge without any additional hardware. Thus, the work provides an intelligent system with a self-diagnostics feature and an automatic commissioning.

Training executive functions in the laboratory and in real life : cognitive consequences of computer-based exercises and bilingualism

The question of the trainability of executive functions and the impact of such training on related cognitive skills has stirred considerable research interest. Despite a number of studies investigating this, the question has not yet been solved. The general aim of this thesis was to investigate two very different types of training of executive functions: laboratory-based computerized training (Studies I-III) and realworld training through bilingualism (Studies IV-V). Bilingualism as a kind of training of executive functions is based on the idea that managing two languages requires executive resources, and previous studies have suggested a bilingual advantage in executive functions. Three executive functions were studied in the present thesis: updating of working memory (WM) contents, inhibition of irrelevant information, and shifting between tasks and mental sets. Studies I-III investigated the effects of computer-based training of WM updating (Study I), inhibition (Study II), and set shifting (Study III) in healthy young adults. All studies showed increased performance on the trained task. More importantly, improvement on an untrained task tapping the trained executive function (near transfer) was seen in Study I and II. None of the three studies showed improvement on untrained tasks tapping some other cognitive function (far transfer) as a result of training. Study I also used PET to investigate the effects of WM updating training on a neurotransmitter closely linked to WM, namely dopamine. The PET results revealed increased striatal dopamine release during WM updating performance as a result of training. Study IV investigated the ability to inhibit task-irrelevant stimuli in bilinguals and monolinguals by using a dichotic listening task. The results showed that the bilinguals exceeded the monolinguals in inhibiting task-irrelevant information. Study V introduced a new, complementary research approach to study the bilingual executive advantage and its underlying mechanisms. To circumvent the methodological problems related to natural groups design, this approach focuses only on bilinguals and examines whether individual differences in bilingual behavior correlate with executive task performances. Using measures that tap the three above-entioned executive functions, the results suggested that more frequent language switching was associated with better set shifting skills, and earlier acquisition of the second language was related to better inhibition skills. In conclusion, the present behavioral results showed that computer-based training of executive functions can improve performance on the trained task and on closely related tasks, but does not yield a more general improvement of cognitive skills. Moreover, the functional neuroimaging results reveal that WM training modulates striatal dopaminergic function, speaking for training-induced neural plasticity in this important neurotransmitter system. With regard to bilingualism, the results provide further support to the idea that bilingualism can enhance executive functions. In addition, the new complementary research approach proposed here provides some clues as to which aspects of everyday bilingual behavior may be related to the advantage in executive functions in bilingual individuals.