Performance Evaluation of Public Bus Transportation by Using DEA Models and Shannon’s Entropy:An Example From a Company in a Large City of China

The purpose of this paper is to assess the operational efficiency of a public bus transportation via a case study from a company in a large city of China by using data envelopment analysis(DEA)model and Shannon’s entropy.This company operates 37 main routes on the backbone roads.Thus,it plays a significant role in public transportation in the city.According to bus industry norms,an efficiency evaluation index system is constructed from the perspective of both company operations and passenger demands.For passenger satisfaction,passenger waiting time and passenger-crowding degree are considered,and they are undesirable indicators.To describe such indicators,a superefficient DEA model is constructed.With this model,by using actual data,efficiency is evaluated for each bus route.Results show that the DEA model with Shannon’s entropy being combined achieves more reasonable results.Also,sensitivity analysis is presented.Therefore,the results are meaningful for the company to improve its operations and management.

A Survey of Output Feedback Robust MPC for Linear Parameter Varying Systems

For constrained linear parameter varying(LPV)systems,this survey comprehensively reviews the literatures on output feedback robust model predictive control(OFRMPC)over the past two decades from the aspects on motivations,main contributions,and the related techniques.According to the types of state observer systems and scheduling parameters of LPV systems,different kinds of OFRMPC approaches are summarized and compared.The extensions of OFRMPC for LPV systems to other related uncertain systems are also investigated.The methods of dealing with system uncertainties and constraints in different kinds of OFRMPC optimizations are given.Key issues on OFRMPC optimizations for LPV systems are discussed.Furthermore,the future research directions on OFRMPC for LPV systems are suggested.

Parametric Transformation of Timed Weighted Marked Graphs:Applications in Optimal Resource Allocation

Timed weighted marked graphs are a subclass of timed Petri nets that have wide applications in the control and performance analysis of flexible manufacturing systems.Due to the existence of multiplicities(i.e.,weights)on edges,the performance analysis and resource optimization of such graphs represent a challenging problem.In this paper,we develop an approach to transform a timed weighted marked graph whose initial marking is not given,into an equivalent parametric timed marked graph where the edges have unitary weights.In order to explore an optimal resource allocation policy for a system,an analytical method is developed for the resource optimization of timed weighted marked graphs by studying an equivalent net.Finally,we apply the proposed method to a flexible manufacturing system and compare the results with a previous heuristic approach.Simulation analysis shows that the developed approach is superior to the heuristic approach.

Alternative Method of Constructing Granular Neural Networks

Utilizing granular computing to enhance artificial neural network architecture, a newtype of network emerges—thegranular neural network (GNN). GNNs offer distinct advantages over their traditional counterparts: The ability toprocess both numerical and granular data, leading to improved interpretability. This paper proposes a novel designmethod for constructing GNNs, drawing inspiration from existing interval-valued neural networks built uponNNNs. However, unlike the proposed algorithm in this work, which employs interval values or triangular fuzzynumbers for connections, existing methods rely on a pre-defined numerical network. This new method utilizesa uniform distribution of information granularity to granulate connections with unknown parameters, resultingin independent GNN structures. To quantify the granularity output of the network, the product of two commonperformance indices is adopted: The coverage of numerical data and the specificity of information granules.Optimizing this combined performance index helps determine the optimal parameters for the network. Finally,the paper presents the complete model construction and validates its feasibility through experiments on datasetsfrom the UCIMachine Learning Repository. The results demonstrate the proposed algorithm’s effectiveness andpromising performance.

State-Based Opacity Verification of Networked Discrete Event Systems Using Labeled Petri Nets

The opaque property plays an important role in the operation of a security-critical system,implying that pre-defined secret information of the system is not able to be inferred through partially observing its behavior.This paper addresses the verification of current-state,initial-state,infinite-step,and K-step opacity of networked discrete event systems modeled by labeled Petri nets,where communication losses and delays are considered.Based on the symbolic technique for the representation of states in Petri nets,an observer and an estimator are designed for the verification of current-state and initial-state opacity,respectively.Then,we propose a structure called an I-observer that is combined with secret states to verify whether a networked discrete event system is infinite-step opaque or K-step opaque.Due to the utilization of symbolic approaches for the state-based opacity verification,the computation of the reachability graphs of labeled Petri nets is avoided,which dramatically reduces the computational overheads stemming from networked discrete event systems.

Residual-driven Fuzzy C-Means Clustering for Image Segmentation

In this paper,we elaborate on residual-driven Fuzzy C-Means(FCM)for image segmentation,which is the first approach that realizes accurate residual(noise/outliers)estimation and enables noise-free image to participate in clustering.We propose a residual-driven FCM framework by integrating into FCM a residual-related regularization term derived from the distribution characteristic of different types of noise.Built on this framework,a weighted?2-norm regularization term is presented by weighting mixed noise distribution,thus resulting in a universal residual-driven FCM algorithm in presence of mixed or unknown noise.Besides,with the constraint of spatial information,the residual estimation becomes more reliable than that only considering an observed image itself.Supporting experiments on synthetic,medical,and real-world images are conducted.The results demonstrate the superior effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed algorithm over its peers.

IoT-based Smart and Complex Systems：A Guest Editorial Report

THE Industrial Revolution starting from about 1760 and ending at around 1840 has been viewed as the first Industrial Revolution.It features with the replacement of human and animal muscle power with steam and mechanical power.Human income per capita had taken 800 years to double by

Development of Granular Fuzzy Relation Equations Based on a Subset of Data

Developing and optimizing fuzzy relation equations are of great relevance in system modeling,which involves analysis of numerous fuzzy rules.As each rule varies with respect to its level of influence,it is advocated that the performance of a fuzzy relation equation is strongly related to a subset of fuzzy rules obtained by removing those without significant relevance.In this study,we establish a novel framework of developing granular fuzzy relation equations that concerns the determination of an optimal subset of fuzzy rules.The subset of rules is selected by maximizing their performance of the obtained solutions.The originality of this study is conducted in the following ways.Starting with developing granular fuzzy relation equations,an interval-valued fuzzy relation is determined based on the selected subset of fuzzy rules(the subset of rules is transformed to interval-valued fuzzy sets and subsequently the interval-valued fuzzy sets are utilized to form interval-valued fuzzy relations),which can be used to represent the fuzzy relation of the entire rule base with high performance and efficiency.Then,the particle swarm optimization(PSO)is implemented to solve a multi-objective optimization problem,in which not only an optimal subset of rules is selected but also a parameterεfor specifying a level of information granularity is determined.A series of experimental studies are performed to verify the feasibility of this framework and quantify its performance.A visible improvement of particle swarm optimization(about 78.56%of the encoding mechanism of particle swarm optimization,or 90.42%of particle swarm optimization with an exploration operator)is gained over the method conducted without using the particle swarm optimization algorithm.

Multi-Stage Basin Development and Hydrocarbon Accumulations： A Review of the Sichuan Basin at Eastern Margin of the Tibetan Plateau

Sichuan Basin is one of the uppermost petroliferous basins in China. It experienced three evolutionary phases which were marine carbonate platform （Ediacaran to Late Triassic）, Indosinian-Yanshanian orogeny foreland basin （Late Triassic to Late Cretaceous） and uplift and tectonic modification （Late Cretaceous to Quaternary）. The present-day tectonics of the Sichuan Ba- sin and its periphery are characterized by three basic elements which are topography, basement type and surface structure, and two settings （plate margin and interior）. Therefore, be subdivided into five units which have different structure and tectonic history. The basin contains five different sets of source rocks with thickness up to 2 500 m. These source rocks were well preserved due to the presence of Middel-Lower Triassic evaporites （〉-200 m） and thick terrestrial sediments filling in the Indosinian-Yanshanian foreland basin （〉3 000 m）. The uplift and erosion since Late Cretaceous has significant influence on cross-strata migration and accumulation of oil and gas. The multi-phase evolution of the basin and its superimposed tectonic elements, good petroleum geologic conditions and diverse petroleum systems reveal its bright exploration prospects.

AN EXTRACTION ALGORITHM FOR A SET OF ELEMENTARY SIPHONS BASED ON MIXED-INTEGER PROGRAMMING

Elementary siphons are useful in the development of a deadlock prevention policy for a discrete event system modeled with Petri nets. This paper proposes an algorithm to iteratively extract a set of elementary siphons in a class of Petri nets, called system of simple sequential processes with resources （S3pR）. At each iteration, by a mixed-integer programming （MIP） method, the proposed algorithm finds a maximal unmarked siphon, classifies the places in it, extracts an elementary siphon from the classified places, and adds a new constraint in order to extract the next elementary siphon. This algorithm iteratively executes until no new unmarked siphons can be found. It finally obtains a unique set of elementary siphons and avoids a complete siphon enumeration. A theoretical analysis and examples are given to demonstrate its efficiency and practical potentials.