Product scheduling for thermal energy reduction in papermaking industries

Papermaking is considered as an energy-intensive industry partly due to the fact that the machinery and procedures have been designed at the time when energy was both cheap and plentiful. A typical paper machine manufactures a variety of different products (grades) which impose variable per-unit raw material and energy costs to the mill. It is known that during a grade change operation the products are not market-worthy. Therefore, two different production regimes, i.e. steady state and grade transition can be recognised in papermaking practice. Among the costs associated with paper manufacture, the energy cost is 'more variable' due to (usually) day-to-day variations of the energy prices. Moreover, the production of a grade is often constrained by customer delivery time requirements. Given the above constraints and production modes, the product scheduling technique proposed in this paper aims at optimising the sequence of orders in a single machine so that the cost of production (mainly determined by the energy) is minimised. Simulation results obtained from a commercial board machine in the UK confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method. © 2011 IFAC.

Simultaneous colour search renders other object properties less salient

A common approach to visualise multidimensional data sets is to map every data dimension to a separate visual feature. It is generally assumed that such visual features can be judged independently from each other. However, we have recently shown that interactions between features do exist [Hannus et al. 2004; van den Berg et al. 2005]. In those studies, we first determined individual colour and size contrast or colour and orientation contrast necessary to achieve a fixed level of discrimination performance in single feature search tasks. These contrasts were then used in a conjunction search task in which the target was defined by a combination of a colour and a size or a colour and an orientation. We found that in conjunction search, despite the matched feature discriminability, subjects significantly more often chose an item with the correct colour than one with correct size or orientation. This finding may have consequences for visualisation: the saliency of information coded by objects' size or orientation may change when there is a need to simultaneously search for colour that codes another aspect of the information. In the present experiment, we studied whether a colour bias can also be found in a more complex and continuous task, Subjects had to search for a target in a node-link diagram consisting of SO nodes, while their eye movements were being tracked, Each node was assigned a random colour and size (from a range of 10 possible values with fixed perceptual distances). We found that when we base the distances on the mean threshold contrasts that were determined in our previous experiments, the fixated nodes tend to resemble the target colour more than the target size (Figure 1a). This indicates that despite the perceptual matching, colour is judged with greater precision than size during conjunction search. We also found that when we double the size contrast (i.e. the distances between the 10 possible node sizes), this effect disappears (Figure 1b). Our findings confirm that the previously found decrease in salience of other features during colour conjunction search is also present in more complex (more 'visualisation- realistic') visual search tasks. The asymmetry in visual search behaviour can be compensated for by manipulating step sizes (perceptual distances) within feature dimensions. Our results therefore also imply that feature hierarchies are not completely fixed and may be adapted to the requirements of a particular visualisation. Copyright © 2005 by the Association for Computing Machinery, Inc.

Bayesian Learning of Noisy Markov Decision Processes

We consider the inverse reinforcement learning problem, that is, the problem of learning from, and then predicting or mimicking a controller based on state/action data. We propose a statistical model for such data, derived from the structure of a Markov decision process. Adopting a Bayesian approach to inference, we show how latent variables of the model can be estimated, and how predictions about actions can be made, in a unified framework. A new Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampler is devised for simulation from the posterior distribution. This step includes a parameter expansion step, which is shown to be essential for good convergence properties of the MCMC sampler. As an illustration, the method is applied to learning a human controller.

How neurons migrate: a dynamic in-silico model of neuronal migration in the developing cortex.

BACKGROUND: Neuronal migration, the process by which neurons migrate from their place of origin to their final position in the brain, is a central process for normal brain development and function. Advances in experimental techniques have revealed much about many of the molecular components involved in this process. Notwithstanding these advances, how the molecular machinery works together to govern the migration process has yet to be fully understood. Here we present a computational model of neuronal migration, in which four key molecular entities, Lis1, DCX, Reelin and GABA, form a molecular program that mediates the migration process. RESULTS: The model simulated the dynamic migration process, consistent with in-vivo observations of morphological, cellular and population-level phenomena. Specifically, the model reproduced migration phases, cellular dynamics and population distributions that concur with experimental observations in normal neuronal development. We tested the model under reduced activity of Lis1 and DCX and found an aberrant development similar to observations in Lis1 and DCX silencing expression experiments. Analysis of the model gave rise to unforeseen insights that could guide future experimental study. Specifically: (1) the model revealed the possibility that under conditions of Lis1 reduced expression, neurons experience an oscillatory neuron-glial association prior to the multipolar stage; and (2) we hypothesized that observed morphology variations in rats and mice may be explained by a single difference in the way that Lis1 and DCX stimulate bipolar motility. From this we make the following predictions: (1) under reduced Lis1 and enhanced DCX expression, we predict a reduced bipolar migration in rats, and (2) under enhanced DCX expression in mice we predict a normal or a higher bipolar migration. CONCLUSIONS: We present here a system-wide computational model of neuronal migration that integrates theory and data within a precise, testable framework. Our model accounts for a range of observable behaviors and affords a computational framework to study aspects of neuronal migration as a complex process that is driven by a relatively simple molecular program. Analysis of the model generated new hypotheses and yet unobserved phenomena that may guide future experimental studies. This paper thus reports a first step toward a comprehensive in-silico model of neuronal migration.

Bead-probe complex capture a couple of SINE and LINE family from genomes of two closely related species of East Asian cyprinid directly using magnetic separation

Background: Short and long interspersed elements (SINEs and LINEs, respectively), two types of retroposons, are active in shaping the architecture of genomes and powerful tools for studies of phylogeny and population biology. Here we developed special protocol to apply biotin-streptavidin bead system into isolation of interspersed repeated sequences rapidly and efficiently, in which SINEs and LINEs were captured directly from digested genomic DNA by hybridization to bead-probe complex in solution instead of traditional strategy including genomic library construction and screening. Results: A new couple of SINEs and LINEs that shared an almost identical 3'tail was isolated and characterized in silver carp and bighead carp of two closely related species. These SINEs (34 members), designated HAmo SINE family, were little divergent in sequence and flanked by obvious TSD indicated that HAmo SINE was very young family. The copy numbers of this family was estimated to 2 x 10(5) and 1.7 x 10(5) per haploid genome by Real-Time qPCR, respectively. The LINEs, identified as the homologs of LINE2 in other fishes, had a conserved primary sequence and secondary structures of the 3'tail region that was almost identical to that of HAmo SINE. These evidences suggest that HAmo SINEs are active and amplified recently utilizing the enzymatic machinery for retroposition of HAmoL2 through the recognition of higher-order structures of the conserved 42-tail region. We analyzed the possible structures of HAmo SINE that lead to successful amplification in genome and then deduced that HAmo SINE, SmaI SINE and FokI SINE that were similar in sequence each other, were probably generated independently and created by LINE family within the same lineage of a LINE phylogeny in the genomes of different hosts. Conclusion: The presented results show the advantage of the novel method for retroposons isolation and a pair of young SINE family and its partner LINE family in two carp fishes, which strengthened the hypotheses containing the slippage model for initiation of reverse transcription, retropositional parasitism of SINEs on LINEs, the formation of the stem loop structure in 3'tail region of some SINEs and LINEs and the mechanism of template switching in generating new SINE family.

The cytomegalovirus promoter-driven short hairpin RNA constructs mediate effective RNA interference in zebrafish in vivo

The ability to utilize the RNA interference (RNAi) machinery for silencing target-gene expression has created a lot of excitement in the research community. In the present study, we used a cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter-driven DNA template approach to induce short hairpin RNA (shRNA) triggered RNAi to block exogenous Enhanced Green Fluorescent Protein (EGFP) and endogenous No Tail (NTL) gene expressions. We constructed three plasmids, pCMV-EGFP-CMV-shGFP-SV40, pCMV-EGFP-CMV-shNTL-SV40, and pCMV-EGFP-CMV-shScrambled-SV40, each containing a CMV promoter driving an EGFP reporter cDNA and DNA coding for one shRNA under the control of another CMV promoter. The three shRNA-generating plasmids and pCMV-EGFP control plasmid were introduced into zebrafish embryos by microinjection. Samples were collected at 48 h after injection. Results were evaluated by phenotype observation and real-time fluorescent quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (Q-PCR). The shGFP-generating plasmid significantly inhibited the EGFP expression viewed under fluorescent microscope and reduced by 70.05 +/- 1.26% of exogenous EGFP gene mRNA levels compared with controls by Q-PCR. The shRNA targeting endogenous NTL gene resulted in obvious NTL phenotype of 30 +/- 4% and decreased the level of their corresponding mRNAs up to 54.52 +/- 2.05% compared with nontargeting control shRNA. These data proved the feasibility of the CMV promoter-driven shRNA expression technique to be used to inhibit exogenous and endogenous gene expressions in zebrafish in vivo.

Knock down of gfp and no tail expression in zebrafish embryo by in vivo-transcribed short hairpin RNA with T7 plasmid system

A short-hairpin RNA (shRNA) expression system, based on T7 RNA polymerase (T7RP) directed transcription machinery, has been developed and used to generate a knock down effect in zebrafish embryos by targeting green fluorescent protein (gfp) and no tail (ntl) mRNA. The vector pCMVT7R harboring T7RP driven by CMV promoter was introduced into zebrafish embryos and the germline transmitted transgenic individuals were screened out for subsequent RNAi application. The shRNA transcription vectors pT7shRNA were constructed and validated by in vivo transcription assay. When pT7shGFP vector was injected into the transgenic embryos stably expressing T7RP, gfp relative expression level showed a decrease of 68% by analysis of fluorescence real time RT-PCR. As a control, injection of chemical synthesized siRNA resulted in expression level of 40% lower than the control when the injection dose was as high as 2 mu g/mu l. More importantly, injection of pT7shNTL vector in zebrafish embryos expressing T7RP led to partial absence of endogenous ntl transcripts in 30% of the injected embryos when detected by whole mount in situ hybridization. Herein, the T7 transcription system could be used to drive the expression of shRNA in zebrafish embryos and result in gene knock down effect, suggesting a potential role for its application in RNAi studies in zebrafish embryos.

Experimental study of the effects of temperature variation on droplet size and wetness fraction in a low-pressure model steam turbine

The three-stage low-pressure model steam turbine at the Institute of Thermal Turbomachinery and Machinery Laboratory (ITSM) was used to study the impact of three different steam inlet temperatures on the homogeneous condensation process and the resulting wetness topology. The droplet spectrum as well as the particle number concentration were measured in front of the last stage using an optical-pneumatic probe. At design load, condensation starts inside the stator of the second stage. A change in the steam inlet temperature is able to shift the location of condensation onset within the blade row up- or downstream and even into adjoining blade passages, which leads to significantly different local droplet sizes and wetness fractions due to different local expansion rates. The measured results are compared to steady three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics calculations. The predicted nucleation zones could be largely confirmed by the measurements. Although the trend of measured and calculated droplet size across the span is satisfactory, there are considerable differences between the measured and computed droplet spectrum and wetness fractions. © IMechE 2013 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/ journalsPermissions.nav.

Determination of dispersion and nonlinear coefficients of photonic crystal fibers by degenerated FWM method

使用四波混频测试光子晶体光纤的色散和非线性参数

A High Power Light Emitting Diode Module for Projection Display Application

Electron. Manuf. Packag. Technol. Soc. Chin. Inst. Electron.; IEEE Compon., Packag., Manuf. Technol. Soc. (IEEE-CPMT); Xidian University

automated test program generation for an industrial optimizing compiler

Association for Computing Machinery, ACM; IEEE; IEEE Computer Society; SIGSOFT

Cortactin mediated morphogenic cell movements during zebrafish (Danio rerio) gastrulation

Cell migration is essential to direct embryonic cells to specific sites at which their developmental fates are ultimately determined. However, the mechanism by which cell motility is regulated in embryonic development is largely unknown. Cortactin, a filamentous actin binding protein, is an activator of Arp2/3 complex in the nucleation of actin cytoskeleton at the cell leading edge and acts directly on the machinery of cell motility. To determine whether cortactin and Arp2/3 mediated actin assembly plays a role in the morphogenic cell movements during the early development of zebrafish, we initiated a study of cortactin expression in zebrafish embryos at gastrulating stages when massive cell migrations occur. Western blot analysis using a cortactin specific monoclonal antibody demonstrated that cortactin protein is abundantly present in embryos at the most early developmental stages. Immunostaining of whole-mounted embryo showed that cortactin immunoreactivity was associated with the embryonic shield, predominantly at the dorsal side of the embryos during gastrulation. In addition, cortactin was detected in the convergent cells of the epiblast and hypoblast, and later in the central nervous system. Immunofluorescent staining with cortactin and Arp3 antibodies also revealed that cortactin and Arp2/3 complex colocalized at the periphery and many patches associated with the cell-to-cell junction in motile embryonic cells. Therefore, our data suggest that cortactin and Arp2/3 mediated actin polymerization is implicated in the cell movement during gastrulation and perhaps the development of the central neural system as well.

Haematopoietic lineage cell-specific protein 1 (HS1) promotes actin-related protein (Arp) 2/3 complex-mediated actin polymerization

HS1 (haematopoietic lineage cell-specific gene protein 1), a prominent substrate of intracellular protein tyrosine kinases in haematopoietic cells, is implicated in the immune response to extracellular stimuli and in cell differentiation induced by cytokines. Although HS1 contains a 37-amino acid tandem repeat motif and a C-terminal Src homology 3 domain and is closely related to the cortical-actin-associated protein cortactin, it lacks the fourth repeat that has been shown to be essential for cortactin binding to filamentous actin (F-actin). In this study, we examined the possible role of HS1 in the regulation of the actin cytoskeleton. Immunofluorescent staining demonstrated that HS1 co-localizes in the cytoplasm of cells with actin-related protein (Arp) 2/3 complex, the primary component of the cellular machinery responsible for de novo actin assembly. Furthermore, recombinant HS1 binds directly to Arp2/3 complex with an equilibrium dissociation constant (K-d) of 880 nM. Although HS1 is a modest F-actin-binding protein with a Kd of 400 nM, it increases the rate of the actin assembly mediated by Arp2/3 complex, and promotes the formation of branched actin filaments induced by Arp2/3 complex and a constitutively activated peptide of N-WASP (neural Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein). Our data suggest that HS1, like cortactin, plays an important role in the modulation of actin assembly.

旋转机械全息序列相似性匹配故障诊断方法

针对全息诊断分辨率低影响旋转机械故障诊断质量和自动化水平的问题,将时间序列相似性匹配的基本概念和方法引入故障诊断应用中,结合全息诊断信息融合分析旋转机械振动全貌的思想,定义了全息序列及其相似性度量模型,用类时间轴上的多维序列表征转子系统振动全貌,进而利用采用近似三角不等式与B+树结合剪枝策略的全息序列相似性匹配算法实现故障诊断。实验结果表明,该方法能够实现高质量的故障自动分类识别。

基于时间序列数据挖掘的旋转机械预诊断方法研究

基于状态的维护(CBM, Condition Based Maintenance)是近年来新兴的一种设 备维护策略，它的基本理念是在机械设备需要维护的时候才对其进行维护，强调 维护要及时、准确和经济。采用这种维护策略，能够提高工业生产的安全性和可 靠性，系统地降低企业运营成本。 机械设备状态预诊断是实现CBM 的核心支撑技术，对其进行深入研究，对推 动CBM 的发展具有重要意义。但是，由于相关研究起步不久，目前预诊断技术还 未能得到很好的实现，研究人员有必要不断地尝试各种新的有效方法来更好地解 决这一问题，加快其实现方法与技术应用的成熟进程。基于此，本文从数据挖掘 的角度，探索了机械设备预诊断新的解决方法和途径，深入研究和探讨了基于时 间序列数据挖掘的旋转机械预诊断方法。本文的主要工作包括： 1. 结合CBM 的基本理念和应用实际的需求，对机械设备状态预诊断的基本 内涵进行了系统分析。将状态评估、故障预测和剩余有效使用寿命预测三个预诊 断基本功能进一步抽象，提出了包含特征提取、状态预测和模式匹配三个子问题 的预诊断一般流程模式。在详细分析机械设备状态预诊断理论方法和应用技术研 究现状的基础上，提出了预诊断技术研究的发展趋势及各子问题的研究侧重点。 并对利用时间序列数据挖掘这一理论方法解决机械设备状态预诊断问题的可行性 进行了分析。 2. 针对具有波动频繁、噪声干扰严重等特点的原始振动量时间序列无法直接 用于旋转机械性能状态分析的问题，结合全息诊断信息融合分析旋转机械振动全 貌的思想，提出了全息状态矩阵的概念并给出定义，用类时间轴上的多维序列表 征转子系统振动全貌，以实现振动量时间序列的高级表示，为后续预测与匹配分 类工作提供良好的数据源，同时增强全息诊断的信息检索和知识自动获取的能力。 3. 将旋转机械性能状态预测，归结为旋转机械设备维护应用背景下的一维数 值型时间序列预测问题来进行深入研究。针对现有预测方法长期预测能力较弱， 且自动化水平低的不足，提出了用于旋转机械性能状态预测的ARIMA 动态间隔预 测法。该方法以动态间隔获取时间序列样本建模并预测的策略，提高了ARIMA 模 型用于设备状态长期预测的准确性，并且能够实现建模与预测的自动化，满足CBM 系统的实时性要求。 4. 针对全息状态矩阵表示的旋转机械性能状态特征数据，提出了一种全息状 态矩阵相似性匹配方法。结合旋转机械预诊断领域应用的特点定义了全息状态矩 阵的相似性度量模型，基于全息状态矩阵近似距离三角不等式设计了剪枝搜索策 略，并在此基础上设计了全息状态矩阵相似性高效准确匹配算法，不需要借助专家经验和人工识别确认，在一定阈值范围内能够实现高质量的旋转机械性能状态 相似性匹配。 5. 旋转机械基本振动量特征时间序列具有海量、超高维度、短期波动频繁和 大量噪声等特征，与时间序列数据挖掘传统应用的金融商业领域数据不同，直接 采用传统方法会存在搜索速度大幅度降低的问题。针对这一问题，提出了基于随 机投影的时间序列相似性搜索方法。该方法利用近年来新兴的随机投影统计学降 维法，将原始时间序列集映射到低维空间，并利用R*树进行索引，能够在保持高 准确率的同时，实现旋转机械基本振动量特征时间序列相似性快速搜索。 6. 针对现有机械设备性能状态分类方法不考虑误分类代价的问题，提出了一 种代价敏感直推式旋转机械设备性能状态分类法。该方法将代价敏感分类和直推 式学习的基本思想和理论相结合，采用一种代价敏感的直推式分类机制，实现了 机械设备性能状态的代价敏感分类。该方法在保证较高分类准确率的基础上，明 显地降低了误分类总代价。 7. 基于CBM 的基本理念，设计了旋转机械CBM 系统的基本结构，并以本 文理论方法的研究成果为核心，详细设计了各模块的基本功能和处理逻辑，采用 VC#.net 与Matlab 混合编程的方式开发了一个面向大型旋转机械的CBM 系统原 型，以验证本文机械设备预诊断方法研究成果的可操作性和实用性，为CBM 系统 应用技术研究做出了有益的探索。