Search results for: proximal policy optimization

Authors: K. Tahir, C. Belfedal, T. Allaoui, C. Gerard, M. Doumi

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In this paper, we presented an optimized RST controller using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) meta-heuristic technique of the active and reactive power regulation of a grid connected wind turbine based on a wound field synchronous generator. This regulation is achieved below the synchronous speed, by means of a maximum power point tracking algorithm. The control of our system is tested under typical wind variations and parameters variation, fault grid condition by simulation. Some results are presented and discussed to prove simplicity and efficiency of the WRSG control for WECS. On the other hand, according to simulation results, variable speed driven WRSG is not significantly impacted in fault conditions.

Keywords: wind energy, particle swarm optimization, wound rotor synchronous generator, power control, RST controller, maximum power point tracking

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Authors: Isaura Bonneux

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District heating and cooling (DHC) is increasingly recognized as a viable path towards sustainable heating and cooling. While some countries like Sweden and Denmark have a longstanding tradition of DHC, Belgium is lacking behind. The Northern part of Belgium, Flanders, had only a total of 95 heating networks in July 2023. Nevertheless, it is increasingly exploring its possibilities to enhance the scope of DHC. DHC is a complex energy system, requiring a lot of collaboration between various stakeholders on various levels. Therefore, it is of interest to look closer at policy-related documents at the Flemish (regional) level, as these policies set the scene for DHC development in the Flemish region. This kind of analysis has not been undertaken so far. This paper has the following research question: “Who talks about DHC, and in which way and context is DHC discussed in Flemish policy-related documents?” To answer this question, the Overton policy database was used to search and retrieve relevant policy-related documents. Overton retrieves data from governments, think thanks, NGOs, and IGOs. In total, out of the 244 original results, 117 documents between 2009 and 2023 were analyzed. Every selected document included theme keywords, policymaking department(s), date, and document type. These elements were used for quantitative data description and visualization. Further, qualitative content analysis revealed patterns and main themes regarding DHC in Flanders. Four main conclusions can be drawn: First, it is obvious from the timeframe that DHC is a new topic in Flanders with still limited attention; 2014, 2016 and 2017 were the years with the most documents, yet this number is still only 12 documents. In addition, many documents talked about DHC but not much in depth and painted it as a future scenario with a lot of uncertainty around it. The largest part of the issuing government departments had a link to either energy or climate (e.g. Flemish Environmental Agency) or policy (e.g. Socio-Economic Council of Flanders) Second, DHC is mentioned most within an ‘Environment and Sustainability’ context, followed by ‘General Policy and Regulation’. This is intuitive, as DHC is perceived as a sustainable heating and cooling technique and this analysis compromises policy-related documents. Third, Flanders seems mostly interested in using waste or residual heat as a heating source for DHC. The harbors and waste incineration plants are identified as potential and promising supply sources. This approach tries to conciliate environmental and economic incentives. Last, local councils get assigned a central role and the initiative is mostly taken by them. The policy documents and policy advices demonstrate that Flanders opts for a bottom-up organization. As DHC is very dependent on local conditions, this seems a logic step. Nevertheless, this can impede smaller councils to create DHC networks and slow down systematic and fast implementation of DHC throughout Flanders.

Keywords: district heating and cooling, flanders, overton database, policy analysis

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Authors: Elza Jurun, Damir Piplica, Tea Poklepović

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Numerous studies carried out in the developed western democratic countries have shown that the ideological framework of the governing party has a significant influence on the monetary policy. The executive authority consisting of a left-wing party gives a higher weight to unemployment suppression and central bank implements a more expansionary monetary policy. On the other hand, right-wing governing party considers the monetary stability to be more important than unemployment suppression and in such a political framework the main macroeconomic objective becomes the inflation rate reduction. The political framework conditions in the transition countries which are new European Union (EU) members are still highly specific in relation to the other EU member countries. In the focus of this paper is the question whether the same monetary policy principles are valid in these transitional countries as well as they apply in developed western democratic EU member countries. The data base consists of inflation rate and unemployment rate for 11 transitional EU member countries covering the period from 2001 to 2012. The essential information for each of these 11 countries and for each year of the observed period is right or left political orientation of the ruling party. In this paper we use t-statistics to test our hypothesis that there are differences in inflation and unemployment between right and left political orientation of the governing party. To explore the influence of different countries, through years and different political orientations descriptive statistics is used. Inflation and unemployment should be strongly negatively correlated through time, which is tested using Pearson correlation coefficient. Regarding the fact whether the governing authority is consisted from left or right politically oriented parties, monetary authorities will adjust its policy setting the higher priority on lower inflation or unemployment reduction.

Keywords: inflation rate, monetary policy orientation, transition EU countries, unemployment rate

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Authors: Bastien Batardière, Joon Kwon

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For finite-sum optimization, variance-reduced gradient methods (VR) compute at each iteration the gradient of a single function (or of a mini-batch), and yet achieve faster convergence than SGD thanks to a carefully crafted lower-variance stochastic gradient estimator that reuses past gradients. Another important line of research of the past decade in continuous optimization is the adaptive algorithms such as AdaGrad, that dynamically adjust the (possibly coordinate-wise) learning rate to past gradients and thereby adapt to the geometry of the objective function. Variants such as RMSprop and Adam demonstrate outstanding practical performance that have contributed to the success of deep learning. In this work, we present AdaLVR, which combines the AdaGrad algorithm with loopless variance-reduced gradient estimators such as SAGA or L-SVRG that benefits from a straightforward construction and a streamlined analysis. We assess that AdaLVR inherits both good convergence properties from VR methods and the adaptive nature of AdaGrad: in the case of L-smooth convex functions we establish a gradient complexity of O(n + (L + √ nL)/ε) without prior knowledge of L. Numerical experiments demonstrate the superiority of AdaLVR over state-of-the-art methods. Moreover, we empirically show that the RMSprop and Adam algorithm combined with variance-reduced gradients estimators achieve even faster convergence.

Keywords: convex optimization, variance reduction, adaptive algorithms, loopless

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Authors: Joseph Kwame Sarfo-Adu

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Social protection programs have been rolled out by successive governments in the quest of bridging the inequality gap in Ghana. Despite notable positive impacts of these programs across the country, there still remains worrying experience of the exclusion of the poor and vulnerable especially in rural Ghana Notwithstanding the rhetoric of participation within the discussion of social protection programs, less attention has been given to the design of these programs. In view of this, the study seeks to address how social protection programs are designed to address the needs of the poor. This study focused on five selected social protection programs in Ghana because they are programs with nationwide coverage. Qualitative thematic analysis was applied to analyze our data with the use of the Nvivo 12 version. We found out that there is a strong link between policy design and poverty alleviation. Our findings revealed that a well-designed program can significantly alleviate poverty, a poorly designed program can create more damage.

Keywords: social protection, poverty alleviation, policy design, effective outcome

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Authors: Yogish Huchaiah, Chandrashekara Krishnappa

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This study considers the optimization and validation of experimental results using Multi-Functional Criteria Technique (MFCT). MFCT is concerned with structuring and solving decision and planning problems involving multiple variables. Production of biodiesel from Composite Oil Methyl Esters (COME) of Jatropha and Pongamia oils, mixed in various proportions and Biodiesel thus obtained from two step transesterification process were tested for various Physico-Chemical properties and it has been ascertained that they were within limits proposed by ASTME. They were blended with Petrodiesel in various proportions. These Methyl Esters were blended with Petrodiesel in various proportions and coded. These blends were used as fuels in a computerized CI DI engine to investigate Performance and Emission characteristics. From the analysis of results, it was found that 180MEM4B20 blend had the maximum Performance and minimum Emissions. To validate the experimental results, MFCT was used. Characteristics such as Fuel Consumption (FC), Brake Power (BP), Brake Specific Fuel Consumption (BSFC), Brake Thermal Efficiency (BTE), Carbon dioxide (CO2), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Hydro Carbon (HC) and Nitrogen oxide (NOx) were considered as dependent variables. It was found from the application of this method that the optimized combination of Injection Pressure (IP), Mix and Blend is 178MEM4.2B24. Overall corresponding variation between optimization and experimental results was found to be 7.45%.

Keywords: COME, IP, MFCT, optimization, PI, PN, PV

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Authors: Abdolsalam Ghaderi

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In this paper, the single-depot capacitated location-routing problem under uncertainty is presented. The problem aims to find the optimal location of a single depot and the routing of vehicles to serve the customers when the parameters may change under different circumstances. This problem has many applications, especially in the area of supply chain management and distribution systems. To get closer to real-world situations, travel time of vehicles, the fixed cost of vehicles usage and customers’ demand are considered as a source of uncertainty. A combined approach including robust optimization and stochastic programming was presented to deal with the uncertainty in the problem at hand. For this purpose, a mixed integer programming model is developed and a heuristic algorithm based on Variable Neighborhood Search(VNS) is presented to solve the model. Finally, the computational results are presented and future research directions are discussed.

Keywords: location-routing problem, robust optimization, stochastic programming, variable neighborhood search

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Authors: S. Jabeen

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Though Pakistan has a rich cultural history and a diverse population; its global image is tarnished with labels of Muslim ‘fundamentalism’ and ‘extremism.’ Cultural policy is a tool that can be used by the government of Pakistan to ameliorate this image, but instead, this fundamentalist reputation is reinforced in the 2005 draft of Pakistan’s cultural policy. With its stern focus on a homogenized cultural identity, this 2005 draft bases itself largely on forced participation from the largely Muslim public and leaves little or no benefits to them or cultural minorities in Pakistan. The effects of this homogenized ‘Muslim’ identity linger ten years later where the study and celebration of the cultural heritage of Pakistan in schools and educational festivals focus entirely on creating and maintaining a singular ‘Islamic’ cultural identity. The current lack of inclusion has many adverse effects that include the breeding of extremist mindsets through the usurpation of minority rights and lack of safe cultural public spaces. This paper argues that Pakistan can improve social inclusivity and boost its global image through cultural policy. The paper sets the grounds for research by surveying the effectiveness of different cultural policies across nations with differing socioeconomic status. Then, by sampling two public literary festivals in Pakistan as case studies, the National Youth Peace Festival hosted with a nationalistic agenda using public funds and the Lahore Literary Festival (LLF) that aims to boost the cultural literacy scene of Lahore using both private and public efforts, this paper looks at the success of the private, more inclusive LLF. A revision of cultural policy is suggested that combines public and private efforts to host cultural festivals for the sake of cultural celebration and human development, without a set nationalistic agenda. Consequently, this comparison which is grounded in the human capabilities approach, recommends revising the 2005 draft of the Cultural Policy to improve human capabilities in order to support cultural diversity and ultimately contribute to economic growth in Pakistan.

Keywords: cultural policy, festivals, human capabilities, Pakistan

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Authors: Alper Akin, Ibrahim Aydogdu

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This study presents a hybrid metaheuristic algorithm to obtain optimum designs for steel space buildings. The optimum design problem of three-dimensional steel frames is mathematically formulated according to provisions of LRFD-AISC (Load and Resistance factor design of American Institute of Steel Construction). Design constraints such as the strength requirements of structural members, the displacement limitations, the inter-story drift and the other structural constraints are derived from LRFD-AISC specification. In this study, a hybrid algorithm by using teaching-learning based optimization (TLBO) and harmony search (HS) algorithms is employed to solve the stated optimum design problem. These algorithms are two of the recent additions to metaheuristic techniques of numerical optimization and have been an efficient tool for solving discrete programming problems. Using these two algorithms in collaboration creates a more powerful tool and mitigates each other’s weaknesses. To demonstrate the powerful performance of presented hybrid algorithm, the optimum design of a large scale steel building is presented and the results are compared to the previously obtained results available in the literature.

Keywords: optimum structural design, hybrid techniques, teaching-learning based optimization, harmony search algorithm, minimum weight, steel space frame

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Authors: Sujeet Kumar

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Education has greater importance particularly in terms of increasing human capital and economic competitiveness. It plays a crucial role in terms of cognitive and skill development. Its plays a vital role in process of socialization, fostering social justice, and enhancing social cohesion. Policy related to education has been always a priority for developed countries, which is later adopted by developing countries also. The government of India has also brought change in education polices in line with recognizing change at national and supranational level. However, quality education is still not become an open door for every child in India and several reports are produced year to year about level of school education in India. This paper is concerned with schooling in India. Particularly, it focuses on two government and two private schools in Bihar, but reference has made to schools in Delhi especially around slum communities. The paper presents brief historical context and an overview of current school systems in India. Later, it focuses on analysis of current development in policy in reference with field observation, which is anchored around choice, diversity, market – orientation and gap between different groups of pupils. There is greater degree of difference observed at private and government school levels in terms of quality of teachers, method of teaching and overall environment of learning. The paper concludes that the recent policy development in education particularly Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan (SAA) and Right to Education Act (2009) has required renovating new approach to bridge the gap through broader consultation at grassroots and participatory approach with different stakeholders.

Keywords: education, public policy, participatory approach

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Authors: P. Makendran, M. Pragadeesh, N. Narash, N. Manikandan, A. Rajasri, V. Sanal Kumar

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The growing severity of government-obligatory emissions legislation has required continuous improvement in catalysts performance and the associated reactor systems. IC engines emit a lot of harmful gases into the atmosphere. These gases are toxic in nature and a catalytic converter is used to convert these toxic gases into less harmful gases. The catalytic converter converts these gases by Oxidation and reduction reaction. Stoichiometric engines usually use the three-way catalyst (TWC) for simultaneously destroying all of the emissions. CO and NO react to form CO2 and N2 over one catalyst, and the remaining CO and HC are oxidized in a subsequent one. Literature review reveals that typically precious metals are used as a catalyst. The actual reactor is composed of a washcoated honeycomb-style substrate, with the catalyst being contained in the washcoat. The main disadvantage of a catalytic converter is that it exerts a back pressure to the exhaust gases while entering into them. The objective of this paper is to optimize the back pressure developed by the catalytic converter through geometric optimization of catalystic converter. This can be achieved by designing a catalyst with a optimum cone angle and a more surface area of the catalyst substrate. Additionally, the arrangement of the pores in the catalyst substrate can be changed. The numerical studies have been carried out using k-omega turbulence model with varying inlet angle of the catalytic converter and the length of the catalyst substrate. We observed that the geometry optimization is a meaningful objective for the lucrative design optimization of a catalytic converter for industrial applications.

Keywords: catalytic converter, emission control, reactor systems, substrate for emission control

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Authors: G. Erkomaishvili, R. Gvelesiani, E. Kharaishvili, M. Chavleishvili

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The topic reviews the situation existing currently in Georgia in the field of tourism in conditions of globalization: Touristic resources, the paces of development of the tourism infrastructure, tourism policy, possibilities of development of the Wellness industry in Georgia that is the newest direction of the medical tourism. The factors impeding the development of the industry of tourism, namely-existence of the conflict zones, high rates of the bank credits, deficiencies associated with the tax laws, a level of infrastructural development, quality of services, deficit in the competitive staff, increase of prices in the peak seasons, insufficient promotion of the touristic opportunities of Georgia on the international markets are studied and analyzed. Besides, the levels of development of tourism in Georgia according to the World Economic Forum, aspects of cooperation with the European Union etc. are reviewed. As a result of these studies, a strategy of development of tourism and one of its directions-Wellness industries in Georgia is introduced with the relevant conclusions, on which basis the recommendations are provided.

Keywords: about tourism, tourism policy, wellness industry, business, innovation, technology

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Authors: Ammar Alrefaei

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The COVID-19 pandemic changed human life. The vast majority of the COVID effect was on the healthcare sector, but its impact on the global economy cannot be denied. In the field of environment, the pandemic may have a more significant impact on the environment than all environmental activity and policies of recent years. The pandemic consequences for the environment may be far more unpredictable than one might assume. In view of this, it is imperative for legislators from different states to be prepared to apply adequate measures to counteract such consequences. This article aimed to examine the obstacles to implementing effective environmental policies after the COVID-19 pandemic using different examples from different countries. Also, how adopting new initiatives, such as the Saudi Green Initiative and the Middle East Green Initiative, can help policymakers and legislators adopt new laws and policies. In addition, this paper reviewed the developing dangers to environmental protection after the pandemic and analyzed the major challenges to instrument active environmental policies during COVID-19 and in the world after COVID.

Keywords: environmental policy, environment law, green initiative, COVID 19

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Authors: Abdelali Laid, Abid Hamza, Zeroukhi Houari, Sayah Naimi

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This work relates to the study of the energy levels and the optimization of the Parameter intrinsic (a number of wells and their widths, width of barrier of potential, index of refraction etc.) and extrinsic (temperature, pressure) in the Structure laser diode containing the structure GaInP. The methods of calculation used; - method of the empirical pseudo potential to determine the electronic structures of bands, - graphic method for optimization. The found results are in concord with those of the experiment and the theory.

Keywords: semi-conductor, GaInP/AlGaInP, pseudopotential, energy, alliages

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Authors: Hong Wu, Naiji Lu, Chenguang Wang, Xinming Tu

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This article analyzes the causal effects of informal care, mental health, and physical health on falls and other accidents (e.g. traffic accidents) among elderly people. To purge potential reversal causal effects, e.g., past accidents induce more future informal care, we use two-stage least squares to identify the impacts. By using longitudinal data from a representative national China Health and retirement longitudinal study of people aged 45 and older in China, our findings indicate that informal care decreases while poor health conditions increase the occurrence of accidents. We also find heterogeneous impacts on the occurrence of accidents, varying by gender, urban status, and past accident history. Our findings suggest the following three policy implications. First, policy makers who aim to decrease accidents should take informal care to elders into account. Second, ease of birth policy and postponed retirement policy are urgent to meet the demand of informal care. Third, medical policies should attach great importance to not only physical health but also mental health of elderly parents especially for older people with accident history.

Keywords: accident, China, fall, informal care, mental health, physical health

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Authors: Fatemeh Sadat Miri, Morteza Ehsani, Seyed Farshid Hosseini

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The present research is concerned with the optimization of extrusion parameters of ABS sheets by the Taguchi experimental design method. In this design method, three parameters of % recycling ABS, processing temperature and degassing time on mechanical properties, hardness, HDT, and color matching of ABS sheets were investigated. The variations of this research are the dosage of recycling ABS, processing temperature, and degassing time. According to experimental test data, the highest level of tensile strength and HDT belongs to the sample with 5% recycling ABS, processing temperature of 230°C, and degassing time of 3 hours. Additionally, the minimum level of MFI and color matching belongs to this sample, too. The present results are in good agreement with the Taguchi method. Based on the outcomes of the Taguchi design method, degassing time has the most effect on the mechanical properties of ABS sheets.

Keywords: ABS, process optimization, Taguchi, mechanical properties

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Authors: Ehsan Yadegari

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While there are several metaheuristics and exact approaches to solving the Supply Chain Network Design (SCND) problem, there still remains an unfilled gap in using the Teaching-Learning-Based Optimization (TLBO) algorithm. The algorithm has demonstrated desirable results with problems with complicated combinational optimization. The present study introduces a Discrete Self-Study TLBO (DSS-TLBO) with priority-based solution representation that can solve a supply chain network configuration model to lower the total expenses of establishing facilities and the flow of materials. The network features four layers, namely suppliers, plants, distribution centers (DCs), and customer zones. It is designed to meet the customer’s demand through transporting the material between layers of network and providing facilities in the best economic Potential locations. To have a higher quality of the solution and increase the speed of TLBO, a distinct operator was introduced that ensures self-adaptation (self-study) in the algorithm based on the four types of local search. In addition, while TLBO is used in continuous solution representation and priority-based solution representation is discrete, a few modifications were added to the algorithm to remove the solutions that are infeasible. As shown by the results of experiments, the superiority of DSS-TLBO compared to pure TLBO, genetic algorithm (GA) and firefly Algorithm (FA) was established.

Keywords: supply chain network design, teaching–learning-based optimization, improved metaheuristics, discrete solution representation

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Authors: Eduardo F. Mello, Peter H. Bauer

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The primary focus of this paper is the generation of energy-optimal speed trajectories for heterogeneous electric vehicle platoons in urban driving conditions. Optimal speed trajectories are generated for individual vehicles and for an entire platoon under the assumption that they can be executed without errors, as would be the case for self-driving vehicles. It is then shown that the optimization for the “average vehicle in the platoon” generates similar transportation energy savings to optimizing speed trajectories for each vehicle individually. The introduced approach only requires the lead vehicle to run the optimization software while the remaining vehicles are only required to have adaptive cruise control capability. The achieved energy savings are typically between 30% and 50% for stop-to-stop segments in cities. The prime motivation of urban platooning comes from the fact that urban platoons efficiently utilize the available space and the minimization of transportation energy in cities is important for many reasons, i.e., for environmental, power, and range considerations.

Keywords: electric vehicles, energy efficiency, optimization, platooning, self-driving vehicles, urban traffic

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Authors: Mamidi Ramakrishna Rao, Jagdish Mamidi

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With advancing technology, the market environment for wind power generation systems has become highly competitive. The industry has been moving towards higher wind generator power ratings, in particular, off-shore generator ratings. Current off-shore wind turbine generators are in the power range of 10 to 12 MW. Unlike traditional induction motors, slow-speed permanent magnet surface mounted (PMSM) high-power generators are relatively challenging and designed differently. In this paper, PMSM generator design features have been discussed and analysed. The focus attention is on armature windings, harmonics, and permanent magnet. For the power ratings under consideration, the generator air-gap diameters are in the range of 8 to 10 meters, and active material weigh ~60 tons and above. Therefore, material weight becomes one of the critical parameters. Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) technique is used for weight reduction and performance improvement. Four independent variables have been considered, which are air gap diameter, stack length, magnet thickness, and winding current density. To account for core and teeth saturation, preventing demagnetization effects due to short circuit armature currents, and maintaining minimum efficiency, suitable penalty functions have been applied. To check for performance satisfaction, a detailed analysis and 2D flux plotting are done for the optimized design.

Keywords: offshore wind generator, PMSM, PSO optimization, design optimization

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Authors: A. Mohammadi, M. Moghimi, S. Mohammadi

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Engineers need computational methods which could provide solutions less sensitive to the environmental effects, so the techniques should be used which take the uncertainty to account to control and minimize the risk associated with design and operation. In order to consider uncertainty in engineering problem, the optimization problem should be solved for a suitable range of the each uncertain input variable instead of just one estimated point. Using deterministic optimization problem, a large computational burden is required to consider every possible and probable combination of uncertain input variables. Several methods have been reported in the literature to deal with problems under uncertainty. In this paper, different methods presented and analyzed.

Keywords: uncertainty, Monte Carlo simulated, stochastic programming, scenario method

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Authors: Ouahab Kadri, Leila Hayet Mouss

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In this paper, we present three diagnostic modules for complex and dynamic systems. These modules are based on three ant colony algorithms, which are AntTreeStoch, Lumer & Faieta and Binary ant colony. We chose these algorithms for their simplicity and their wide application range. However, we cannot use these algorithms in their basement forms as they have several limitations. To use these algorithms in a diagnostic system, we have proposed three variants. We have tested these algorithms on datasets issued from two industrial systems, which are clinkering system and pasteurization system.

Keywords: ant colony algorithms, complex and dynamic systems, diagnosis, classification, optimization

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Authors: Andrey V. Timofeev, Dmitry V. Egorov

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This paper introduces an original method of parametric optimization of the structure for multimodal decision-level fusion scheme which combines the results of the partial solution of the classification task obtained from assembly of the mono-modal classifiers. As a result, a multimodal fusion classifier which has the minimum value of the total error rate has been obtained.

Keywords: classification accuracy, fusion solution, total error rate, multimodal fusion classifier

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Authors: Veronika Solilová, Danuše Nerudová

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The paper examines the interaction between the environmental taxation, size of government spending on environmental protection and greenhouse gas emissions and gross inland energy consumption. The aim is to analyze the effects of environmental taxation and government spending on environmental protection as an environmental policy instruments on greenhouse gas emissions and gross inland energy consumption in the EU15. The empirical study is performed using a VAR approach with the application of aggregated data of EU15 over the period 1995 to 2012. The results provide the evidence that the reactions of greenhouse gas emission and gross inland energy consumption to the shocks of environmental policy instruments are strong, mainly in the short term and decay to zero after about 8 years. Further, the reactions of the environmental policy instruments to the shocks of greenhouse gas emission and gross inland energy consumption are also strong in the short term, however with the deferred effects. In addition, the results show that government spending on environmental protection together with gross inland energy consumption has stronger effect on greenhouse gas emissions than environmental taxes in EU15 over the examined period.

Keywords: VAR analysis, greenhouse gas emissions, environmental taxation, government spending

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Authors: Ashwini Gowda K. S, Archana M. R, Anjaneyappa V

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This paper presents pavement maintenance and management system (PMMS) to obtain optimum pavement maintenance and rehabilitation strategies and maintenance scheduling for a network using a multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA). Optimal pavement maintenance & rehabilitation strategy is to maximize the pavement condition index of the road section in a network with minimum maintenance and rehabilitation cost during the planning period. In this paper, NSGA-II is applied to perform maintenance optimization; this maintenance approach was expected to preserve and improve the existing condition of the highway network in a cost-effective way. The proposed PMMS is applied to a network that assessed pavement based on the pavement condition index (PCI). The minimum and maximum maintenance cost for a planning period of 20 years obtained from the non-dominated solution was found to be 5.190x10¹⁰ ₹ and 4.81x10¹⁰ ₹, respectively.

Keywords: genetic algorithm, maintenance and rehabilitation, optimization technique, pavement condition index

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Authors: Yunqi Wang

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Benefiting from the demographic dividend, China has enjoyed export-led economic growth since 1978. While Lewis's model marks the structural transformation from the low-wage 'subsistence' sector to the 'modern sector' as the end of labour surplus, the Chinese government seems eager to extend such benefit by promoting a series of fertility encouragement policies, contrasting to its firm and strict birth control since last century. Based on a Attride-Stirling’s thematic analysis of interviews with unmarried female millennials in China, this paper argues that the young female generation responded to current fertility policies negatively, where the policy ineffectiveness and irresponsiveness have further worsened their marriage and childbirth reluctance. Instead of focusing on changes in wage level, this research contributes a qualitative perspective to the existing theoretical debate on the Lewis turning point, implying an inevitable end of demographic dividend in China. Highlighting the greater focus on female consciousness among the younger generation, it also suggests a policy orientation towards resolving outdated social norms to accommodate the rising female consciousness since millennials will become the childbirth mainstay in forthcoming years.

Keywords: lewis model, fertility policy, demographic dividend, one-child policy

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Authors: Soudabeh Shemehsavar

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In this paper, we consider the situation under a life test, in which the failure time of the test units are not related deterministically to an observable stochastic time varying covariate. In such a case, the joint distribution of failure time and a marker value would be useful for modeling the step stress life test. The problem of accelerating such an experiment is considered as the main aim of this paper. We present a step stress accelerated model based on a bivariate Wiener process with one component as the latent (unobservable) degradation process, which determines the failure times and the other as a marker process, the degradation values of which are recorded at times of failure. Parametric inference based on the proposed model is discussed and the optimization procedure for obtaining the optimal time for changing the stress level is presented. The optimization criterion is to minimize the approximate variance of the maximum likelihood estimator of a percentile of the products’ lifetime distribution.

Keywords: bivariate normal, Fisher information matrix, inverse Gaussian distribution, Wiener process

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Authors: Xiao Chen, Alice Ho, Mabel Tie, Xiaoheng Xu

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Background and Significance of the Study: School-enterprise cooperation has been the cornerstone of vocational education in China and many other countries. Researchers and policymakers have paid much attention to ensuring the implementation and improving the quality of school-enterprise cooperation. However, many problems still exist on the implementation level of the cooperation. On the one hand, the enterprises lack the motivation to participate in the cooperation. On the other hand, there is a lack of effective guidance and management during the cooperation. Furthermore, the current literature focuses greatly on policy recommendations on the national level while failing to provide a detailed practical understanding of how school-enterprise cooperation is carried out on the ground level. With emerging social problems, such as the aging population in China, there is an increasing need for diverse nursing services and better nursing quality. Methodology: To gain a deeper understanding of the influencing factors of the implementation of school-enterprise cooperation, this work conducted 37 exploratory interviews in four Chinese cities spanning first-tier to fourth-tier cities with hospital department directors, vocational school deans, nurses, and vocational students. Multiple critical policy documents that founded the current vocational education system in China were analyzed, along with the data collected from the interviews. Major Findings: Based on the policy and interview analyses, this work reveals a set of influencing factors for school-enterprise cooperation implementation. Findings from each region contribute to an overall model of influencing factors for implementing school-enterprise cooperation in vocational nursing education in China, which leads to practical insights for policy recommendation. The key influencing factors are found based on the policy, hospital, school, and social levels. Following practical policy recommendations were presented. Moving forward, further research on the implementation of school-enterprise cooperation in specific industries will become increasingly critical to improving the effectiveness of educational policies and the quality of vocational education.

Keywords: nursing, policy recommendation, school-enterprise cooperation, vocational education

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Authors: Jessica J. Gillies

Abstract:

Human trafficking is a gross violation of human rights and thus invokes a strong response particularly throughout the global academic community. A longstanding tension throughout academic debate remains the question of a relationship between anti-trafficking policy and sex industry policy. In Australia, over the previous decade, many human trafficking investigations have related to the sexual exploitation of female victims, and convictions in Australia to date have often been for trafficking women from Thailand. Sex industry policy in Australia varies between states, providing a rich contextual landscape in which to explore this relationship. The purpose of this study was to deconstruct how meaning is constructed surrounding human trafficking throughout these supposedly related political discourses in Australia. In order to analyse the discursive construction of the problem of human trafficking in relation to sex industry policy, a discursive analysis was conducted. The methodology of the study was informed by a feminist theoretical framework, and included academic sources and grey literature such as organisational reports and policy statements regarding anti-trafficking initiatives. The scope of grey literature was restricted to Australian and Thai government and non-government organisation texts. The chosen methodology facilitated a qualitative exploration of the influence of feminist discourses over political discourse in this arena. The discursive analysis exposed clusters of active feminist debates interacting with sex industry policy within individual states throughout Australia. Additionally, strongly opposed sex industry perspectives were uncovered within these competing feminist frameworks. While the influence these groups may exert over policy differs, the debate constructs a discursive relationship between human trafficking and sex industry policy. This is problematic because anti-trafficking policy is drawn to some extent from this discursive construction, therefore affecting support services for survivors of human trafficking. The discursive analysis further revealed misalignment between government and non-government priorities, Australian government anti-trafficking policy appears to favour criminal justice priorities; whereas non-government settings preference human rights protections. Criminal justice priorities invoke questions of legitimacy, leading to strict eligibility policy for survivors seeking support following exploitation in the Australian sex industry, undermining women’s agency and human rights. In practice, these two main findings demonstrate a construction of policy that has serious outcomes on typical survivors in Australia following a lived experience of human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. The discourses constructed by conflicting feminist arguments influence political discourses throughout Australia. The application of a feminist theoretical framework to the discursive analysis of the problem of human trafficking is unique to this study. The study has exposed a longstanding and unresolved feminist debate that has filtered throughout anti-trafficking political discourse. This study illuminates the problematic construction of anti-trafficking policy, and the implications in practice on survivor support services. Australia has received international criticism for the focus on criminal justice rather than human rights throughout anti-trafficking policy discourse. The outcome of this study has the potential to inform future language and constructive conversations contributing to knowledge around how policy effects survivors in the post trafficking experience.

Keywords: Australia, discursive analysis, government, human trafficking, non-government, Thailand

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Authors: Majid Arvan, Peyman Beygi, Sina Rokhsati

Abstract:

In-time detection of fire in buildings is of great importance. Employing intelligent methods in data processing in fire detection systems leads to a significant reduction of fire damage at lowest cost. In this paper, the raw data obtained from the fire detection sensor networks in buildings is processed by using intelligent methods based on neural networks and the likelihood of fire happening is predicted. In order to enhance the quality of system, the noise in the sensor data is reduced by analyzing wavelets and applying SVD technique. Meanwhile, the proposed neural network is trained using particle swarm optimization (PSO). In the simulation work, the data is collected from sensor network inside the room and applied to the proposed network. Then the outputs are compared with conventional MLP network. The simulation results represent the superiority of the proposed method over the conventional one.

Keywords: intelligent fire detection, neural network, particle swarm optimization, fire sensor network

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Authors: Revaz Gvelesiani

Abstract:

The problem of compliance between the state economic policy and entrepreneurial policy of businesses is primarily manifested in the contradictions related to the congruence between entrepreneurship development and self-development strategies. Among various types (financial, monetary, social, etc.) of the state economic policy aiming at the development of entrepreneurship, economic order policy is of special importance. Its goal is to set the framework for both public and private economic activities and achieve coherence between the societal value system and the formation of the economic order framework. Economic order policy, in its turn, involves intrinsic contradiction between the social and the competitive order. Competitive order is oriented on the principle of success, while social order _ on the criteria of need satisfaction, which contradicts, at least partly, to the principles of success. Thus within the economic order policy, on the one hand, the state makes efforts to form social order and expand its frontiers, while, on the other hand, market is determined to establish functioning competitive order and ensure its realization. Locating the adequate spaces for and setting the rational border between the state (social order) and the private (competitive order) activities, represents the phenomenon of the decisive importance from the entrepreneurship development strategy standpoint. In the countries where the above mentioned spaces and borders are “set” correctly, entrepreneurship agents (small, medium-sized and large businesses) achieve great success by means of seizing the respective segments and maintaining the leading positions in the internal, the European and the world markets for a long time. As for the entrepreneurship self-development strategy, above all, it involves: •market identification; •interactions with consumers; •continuous innovations; •competition strategy; •relationships with partners; •new management philosophy, etc. The analysis of compliance between the entrepreneurship strategy and entrepreneurship culture should be the reference point for any kind of internationalization in order to avoid shocks of cultural nature and the economic backwardness. Stabilization can be achieved only when the employee actions reflect the existing culture and the new contents of culture (targeted culture) is turned into the implicit consciousness of the personnel. The future leaders should learn how to manage different cultures. Entrepreneurship can be managed successfully if its strategy and culture are coherent. However, not rarely enterprises (organizations) show various forms of violation of both personal and team actions. If personal and team non-observances appear as the form of influence upon the culture, it will lead to global destruction of the system and structure. This is the entrepreneurship culture pathology that complicates to achieve compliance between the entrepreneurship strategy and entrepreneurship culture. Thus, the intrinsic contradictions of entrepreneurship development and self-development strategies complicate the task of reaching compliance between the state economic policy and the company entrepreneurship policy: on the one hand, there is a contradiction between the social and the competitive order within economic order policy and on the other hand, the contradiction exists between entrepreneurship strategy and entrepreneurship culture within entrepreneurship policy.

Keywords: economic order policy, entrepreneurship, development contradictions, self-development contradictions

Procedia PDF Downloads 313