Operational optimization of copper flotation process based on the weighted Gaussian process regression and index-oriented adaptive differential evolution algorithm

Concentrate copper grade(CCG)is one of the important production indicators of copper flotation processes,and keeping the CCG at the set value is of great significance to the economic benefit of copper flotation industrial processes.This paper addresses the fluctuation problem of CCG through an operational optimization method.Firstly,a density-based affinity propagationalgorithm is proposed so that more ideal working condition categories can be obtained for the complex raw ore properties.Next,a Bayesian network(BN)is applied to explore the relationship between the operational variables and the CCG.Based on the analysis results of BN,a weighted Gaussian process regression model is constructed to predict the CCG that a higher prediction accuracy can be obtained.To ensure the predicted CCG is close to the set value with a smaller magnitude of the operation adjustments and a smaller uncertainty of the prediction results,an index-oriented adaptive differential evolution(IOADE)algorithm is proposed,and the convergence performance of IOADE is superior to the traditional differential evolution and adaptive differential evolution methods.Finally,the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed methods are verified by the experiments on a copper flotation industrial process.

Novel Adaptive Memory Event-Triggered-Based Fuzzy Robust Control for Nonlinear Networked Systems via the Differential Evolution Algorithm

This article mainly investigates the fuzzy optimization robust control issue for nonlinear networked systems characterized by the interval type-2(IT2)fuzzy technique under a differential evolution algorithm.To provide a more reasonable utilization of the constrained communication channel,a novel adaptive memory event-triggered(AMET)mechanism is developed,where two event-triggered thresholds can be dynamically adjusted in the light of the current system information and the transmitted historical data.Sufficient conditions with less conservative design of the fuzzy imperfect premise matching(IPM)controller are presented by introducing the Wirtinger-based integral inequality,the information of membership functions(MFs)and slack matrices.Subsequently,under the IPM policy,a new MFs intelligent optimization technique that takes advantage of the differential evolution algorithm is first provided for IT2 TakagiSugeno(T-S)fuzzy systems to update the fuzzy controller MFs in real-time and achieve a better system control effect.Finally,simulation results demonstrate that the proposed control scheme can obtain better system performance in the case of using fewer communication resources.

Deep Structure Optimization for Incremental Hierarchical Fuzzy Systems Using Improved Differential Evolution Algorithm

The optimization of the rule base of a fuzzy logic system (FLS) based on evolutionary algorithm has achievednotable results. However, due to the diversity of the deep structure in the hierarchical fuzzy system (HFS) and thecorrelation of each sub fuzzy system, the uncertainty of the HFS’s deep structure increases. For the HFS, a largenumber of studies mainly use fixed structures, which cannot be selected automatically. To solve this problem, thispaper proposes a novel approach for constructing the incremental HFS. During system design, the deep structureand the rule base of the HFS are encoded separately. Subsequently, the deep structure is adaptively mutated basedon the fitness value, so as to realize the diversity of deep structures while ensuring reasonable competition amongthe structures. Finally, the differential evolution (DE) is used to optimize the deep structure of HFS and theparameters of antecedent and consequent simultaneously. The simulation results confirm the effectiveness of themodel. Specifically, the root mean square errors in the Laser dataset and Friedman dataset are 0.0395 and 0.0725,respectively with rule counts of rules is 8 and 12, respectively.When compared to alternative methods, the resultsindicate that the proposed method offers improvements in accuracy and rule counts.

Strengthened Dominance Relation NSGA-Ⅲ Algorithm Based on Differential Evolution to Solve Job Shop Scheduling Problem

The job shop scheduling problem is a classical combinatorial optimization challenge frequently encountered in manufacturing systems.It involves determining the optimal execution sequences for a set of jobs on various machines to maximize production efficiency and meet multiple objectives.The Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm Ⅲ(NSGA-Ⅲ)is an effective approach for solving the multi-objective job shop scheduling problem.Nevertheless,it has some limitations in solving scheduling problems,including inadequate global search capability,susceptibility to premature convergence,and challenges in balancing convergence and diversity.To enhance its performance,this paper introduces a strengthened dominance relation NSGA-Ⅲ algorithm based on differential evolution(NSGA-Ⅲ-SD).By incorporating constrained differential evolution and simulated binary crossover genetic operators,this algorithm effectively improves NSGA-Ⅲ’s global search capability while mitigating pre-mature convergence issues.Furthermore,it introduces a reinforced dominance relation to address the trade-off between convergence and diversity in NSGA-Ⅲ.Additionally,effective encoding and decoding methods for discrete job shop scheduling are proposed,which can improve the overall performance of the algorithm without complex computation.To validate the algorithm’s effectiveness,NSGA-Ⅲ-SD is extensively compared with other advanced multi-objective optimization algorithms using 20 job shop scheduling test instances.The experimental results demonstrate that NSGA-Ⅲ-SD achieves better solution quality and diversity,proving its effectiveness in solving the multi-objective job shop scheduling problem.

Furnace Temperature Curve Optimization Model Based on Differential Evolution Algorithm

When soldering electronic components onto circuit boards,the temperature curves of the reflow ovens across different zones and the conveyor belt speed significantly influence the product quality.This study focuses on optimizing the furnace temperature curve under varying settings of reflow oven zone temperatures and conveyor belt speeds.To address this,the research sequentially develops a heat transfer model for reflow soldering,an optimization model for reflow furnace conditions using the differential evolution algorithm,and an evaluation and decision model combining the differential evolution algorithm with the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution(TOPSIS)method.This approach aims to determine the optimal furnace temperature curve,zone temperatures of the reflow oven,and the conveyor belt speed.

A Multi-Stage Differential-Multifactorial Evolutionary Algorithm for Ingredient Optimization in the Copper Industry

Ingredient optimization plays a pivotal role in the copper industry,for which it is closely related to the concentrate utilization rate,stability of furnace conditions,and the quality of copper production.To acquire a practical ingredient plan,which should exhibit long duration time with sufficient utilization and feeding stability for real applications,an ingredient plan optimization model is proposed in this study to effectively guarantee continuous production and stable furnace conditions.To address the complex challenges posed by this integer programming model,including multiple coupling feeding stages,intricate constraints,and significant non-linearity,a multi-stage differential-multifactorial evolution algorithm is developed.In the proposed algorithm,the differential evolutionary(DE)algorithm is improved in three aspects to efficiently tackle challenges when optimizing the proposed model.First,unlike traditional time-consuming serial approaches,the multifactorial evolutionary algorithm is utilized to optimize multiple complex models contained in the population of evolutionary algorithm caused by the feeding stability in a parallel manner.Second,a repair algorithm is employed to adjust infeasible ingredient lists in a timely manner.In addition,a local search strategy taking feedback from the current optima and considering the different positions of global optimum is developed to avoiding premature convergence of the differential evolutionary algorithm.Finally,the simulation experiments considering different planning horizons using real data from the copper industry in China are conducted,which demonstrates the superiority of the proposed method on feeding duration and stability compared with other commonly deployed approaches.It is practically helpful for reducing material cost as well as increasing production profit for the copper industry.

Highly mass activity electrocatalysts with ultralow Pt loading on carbon black for hydrogen evolution reaction

Pt-based nanocatalysts offer excellent prospects for various industries.However,the low loading of Pt with excellent performance for efficient and stable nanocatalysts still presents a considerable challenge.In this study,nanocatalysts with ultralow Pt content,excellent performance,and carbon black as support were prepared through in-situ synthesis.These~2-nm particles uniformly and stably dispersed on carbon black because of the strong s-p-d orbital hybridizations between carbon black and Pt,which suppressed the agglomeration of Pt ions.This unique structure is beneficial for the hydrogen evolution reaction.The catalysts exhibited remarkable catalytic activity for hydrogen evolution reaction,exhibiting a potential of 100 mV at 100 mA·cm^(-2),which is comparable to those of commercial Pt/C catalysts.Mass activity(1.61 A/mg)was four times that of a commercial Pt/C catalyst(0.37 A/mg).The ultralow Pt loading(6.84wt%)paves the way for the development of next-generation electrocatalysts.

Role of iron ore in enhancing gasification of iron coke:Structural evolution,influence mechanism and kinetic analysis

The utilization of iron coke provides a green pathway for low-carbon ironmaking.To uncover the influence mechanism of iron ore on the behavior and kinetics of iron coke gasification,the effect of iron ore on the microstructure of iron coke was investigated.Furthermore,a comparative study of the gasification reactions between iron coke and coke was conducted through non-isothermal thermogravimetric method.The findings indicate that compared to coke,iron coke exhibits an augmentation in micropores and specific surface area,and the micropores further extend and interconnect.This provides more adsorption sites for CO_(2) molecules during the gasification process,resulting in a reduction in the initial gasification temperature of iron coke.Accelerating the heating rate in non-isothermal gasification can enhance the reactivity of iron coke.The metallic iron reduced from iron ore is embedded in the carbon matrix,reducing the orderliness of the carbon structure,which is primarily responsible for the heightened reactivity of the carbon atoms.The kinetic study indicates that the random pore model can effectively represent the gasification process of iron coke due to its rich pore structure.Moreover,as the proportion of iron ore increases,the activation energy for the carbon gasification gradually decreases,from 246.2 kJ/mol for coke to 192.5 kJ/mol for iron coke 15wt%.

Catalyst–Support Interaction in Polyaniline‑Supported Ni_(3)Fe Oxide to Boost Oxygen Evolution Activities for Rechargeable Zn‑Air Batteries

Catalyst–support interaction plays a crucial role in improving the catalytic activity of oxygen evolution reaction(OER).Here we modulate the catalyst–support interaction in polyaniline-supported Ni_(3)Fe oxide(Ni_(3)Fe oxide/PANI)with a robust hetero-interface,which significantly improves oxygen evolution activities with an overpotential of 270 mV at 10 mA cm^(-2)and specific activity of 2.08 mA cm_(ECSA)^(-2)at overpotential of 300 mV,3.84-fold that of Ni_(3)Fe oxide.It is revealed that the catalyst–support interaction between Ni_(3)Fe oxide and PANI support enhances the Ni–O covalency via the interfacial Ni–N bond,thus promoting the charge and mass transfer on Ni_(3)Fe oxide.Considering the excellent activity and stability,rechargeable Zn-air batteries with optimum Ni_(3)Fe oxide/PANI are assembled,delivering a low charge voltage of 1.95 V to cycle for 400 h at 10 mA cm^(-2).The regulation of the effect of catalyst–support interaction on catalytic activity provides new possibilities for the future design of highly efficient OER catalysts.

Low‑Temperature Oxidation Induced Phase Evolution with Gradient Magnetic Heterointerfaces for Superior Electromagnetic Wave Absorption

Gradient magnetic heterointerfaces have injected infinite vitality in optimizing impedance matching,adjusting dielectric/magnetic resonance and promoting electromagnetic(EM)wave absorption,but still exist a significant challenging in regulating local phase evolution.Herein,accordion-shaped Co/Co_(3)O_(4)@N-doped carbon nanosheets(Co/Co_(3)O_(4)@NC)with gradient magnetic heterointerfaces have been fabricated via the cooperative high-temperature carbonization and lowtemperature oxidation process.The results indicate that the surface epitaxial growth of crystal Co_(3)O_(4) domains on local Co nanoparticles realizes the adjustment of magnetic-heteroatomic components,which are beneficial for optimizing impedance matching and interfacial polarization.Moreover,gradient magnetic heterointerfaces simultaneously realize magnetic coupling,and long-range magnetic diffraction.Specifically,the synthesized Co/Co_(3)O_(4)@NC absorbents display the strong electromagnetic wave attenuation capability of−53.5 dB at a thickness of 3.0 mm with an effective absorption bandwidth of 5.36 GHz,both are superior to those of single magnetic domains embedded in carbon matrix.This design concept provides us an inspiration in optimizing interfacial polarization,regulating magnetic coupling and promoting electromagnetic wave absorption.

Boosting Oxygen Evolution Reaction Performance on NiFe‑Based Catalysts Through d‑Orbital Hybridization

Anion-exchange membrane water electrolyzers(AEMWEs)for green hydrogen production have received intensive attention due to their feasibility of using earth-abundant NiFe-based catalysts.By introducing a third metal into NiFe-based catalysts to construct asymmetrical M-NiFe units,the d-orbital and electronic structures can be adjusted,which is an important strategy to achieve sufficient oxygen evolution reaction(OER)performance in AEMWEs.Herein,the ternary NiFeM(M:La,Mo)catalysts featured with distinct M-NiFe units and varying d-orbitals are reported in this work.Experimental and theoretical calculation results reveal that the doping of La leads to optimized hybridization between d orbital in NiFeM and 2p in oxygen,resulting in enhanced adsorption strength of oxygen intermediates,and reduced rate-determining step energy barrier,which is responsible for the enhanced OER performance.More critically,the obtained NiFeLa catalyst only requires 1.58 V to reach 1 A cm^(−2) in an anion exchange membrane electrolyzer and demonstrates excellent long-term stability of up to 600 h.

An Immune Self-adaptive Differential Evolution Algorithm with Application to Estimate Kinetic Parameters for Homogeneous Mercury Oxidation

A new version of differential evolution （DE） algorithm, in which immune concepts and methods are applied to determine the parameter setting, named immune self-adaptive differential evolution （ISDE）, is proposed to improve the performance of the DE algorithm. During the actual operation, ISDE seeks the optimal parameters arising from the evolutionary process, which enable ISDE to alter the algorithm for different optimization problems and improve the performance of ISDE by the control parameters＇ self-adaptation. The .performance of the proposed method is studied with the use of nine benchmark problems and compared with original DE algorithm ~nd-other well-known self-adaptive DE algorithms. The experiments conducted show that the ISDE clearly outperforms the other DE algorithms in all benchmark functions. Furthermore, ISDE is applied to develop the kinetic model for homogeneous mercury. （Hg） oxidation in flue gas, and satisfactory results are obtained.

Design of PID controller with incomplete derivation based on differential evolution algorithm

To determine the optimal or near optimal parameters of PID controller with incomplete derivation, a novel design method based on differential evolution （DE） algorithm is presented. The controller is called DE-PID controller. To overcome the disadvantages of the integral performance criteria in the frequency domain such as IAE, ISE, and ITSE, a new performance criterion in the time domain is proposed. The optimization procedures employing the DE algorithm to search the optimal or near optimal PID controller parameters of a control system are demonstrated in detail. Three typical control systems are chosen to test and evaluate the adaptation and robustness of the proposed DE-PID controller. The simulation results show that the proposed approach has superior features of easy implementation, stable convergence characteristic, and good computational efficiency. Compared with the ZN, GA, and ASA, the proposed design method is indeed more efficient and robust in improving the step response of a control system.

Multi-objective Optimization of a Parallel Ankle Rehabilitation Robot Using Modified Differential Evolution Algorithm

Dimensional synthesis is one of the most difficult issues in the field of parallel robots with actuation redundancy. To deal with the optimal design of a redundantly actuated parallel robot used for ankle rehabilitation, a methodology of dimensional synthesis based on multi-objective optimization is presented. First, the dimensional synthesis of the redundant parallel robot is formulated as a nonlinear constrained multi-objective optimization problem. Then four objective functions, separately reflecting occupied space, input/output transmission and torque performances, and multi-criteria constraints, such as dimension, interference and kinematics, are defined. In consideration of the passive exercise of plantar/dorsiflexion requiring large output moment, a torque index is proposed. To cope with the actuation redundancy of the parallel robot, a new output transmission index is defined as well. The multi-objective optimization problem is solved by using a modified Differential Evolution（DE） algorithm, which is characterized by new selection and mutation strategies. Meanwhile, a special penalty method is presented to tackle the multi-criteria constraints. Finally, numerical experiments for different optimization algorithms are implemented. The computation results show that the proposed indices of output transmission and torque, and constraint handling are effective for the redundant parallel robot; the modified DE algorithm is superior to the other tested algorithms, in terms of the ability of global search and the number of non-dominated solutions. The proposed methodology of multi-objective optimization can be also applied to the dimensional synthesis of other redundantly actuated parallel robots only with rotational movements.

An Improved Differential Evolution for Optimization of Chemical Process

Differential evolution （DE） is an evolutionary optimization method, which has been successfully used in many practical cases. However, DE involves large computation time, especially, when used to optimize the compurationally expensive objective function. To overcome this .difficulty, the concept of immunity based on vaccination is used to help proliferate excellent schemata and to restrain the degenerate phenomenon. To improve the effective- ness of vaccines, a new vaccine autonomous obtaining method, and a method of deciding the probability of vacci- nation are proposed. In addition, a method for modifying the search space dynamically is proposed to enhance the possibility of converging to the true global optimum. Experiments showed that the improved DE performs better than the classical DE significantly.

Self-adapting control parameters modifieddifferential evolution for trajectoryplanning of manipulators

Control parameters of original differential evolution （DE） are kept fixed throughout the entire evolutionary process. However, it is not an easy task to properly set control parameters in DE for different optiinization problems. According to the relative position of two different individual vectors selected to generate a difference vector in the searching place, a self-adapting strategy for the scale factor F of the difference vector is proposed. In terms of the convergence status of the target vector in the current population, a self-adapting crossover probability constant CR strategy is proposed. Therefore, good target vectors have a lower CFI while worse target vectors have a large CFI. At the same time, the mutation operator is modified to improve the convergence speed. The performance of these proposed approaches are studied with the use of some benchmark problems and applied to the trajectory planning of a three-joint redundant manipulator. Finally, the experiment results show that the proposed approaches can greatly improve robustness and convergence speed.

Differential evolution algorithm for hybrid flow-shop scheduling problems

Aiming at the hybrid flow-shop （HFS） scheduling that is a complex NP-hard combinatorial problem with wide engineering background, an effective algorithm based on differential evolution （DE） is proposed. By using a special encoding scheme and combining DE based evolutionary search and local search, the exploration and exploitation abilities are enhanced and well balanced for solving the HFS problems. Simulation results based on some typical problems and comparisons with some existing genetic algorithms demonstrate the proposed algorithm is effective, efficient and robust for solving the HFS problems.

Artificial neural network optimized by differential evolution for predicting diameters of jet grouted columns

A novel and effective artificial neural network(ANN) optimized using differential evolution(DE) is first introduced to provide a robust and reliable forecasting of jet grouted column diameters.The proposed computational method adopts the DE algorithm to tackle the difficulties in the training and performance of neural networks and optimize the four quintessential hyper-parameters(i.e.the epoch size,the number of neurons in a hidden layer,the number of hidden layers,and the regularization parameter) that govern the neural network efficacy.This approach is further enhanced by a stochastic gradient optimization algorithm to allow ’expensive’ computation efforts.The ANN-DE is first trained using a prepared jet grouting dataset,then verified and compared with the prevalent machine learning tools,i.e.neural networks and support vector machine(SVM).The results show that,the ANN-DE outperforms the existing methods for predicting the diameter of jet grouting columns since it well balances training efficiency and model performance.Specifically,the ANN-DE achieved root mean square error(RMSE)values of 0.90603 and 0.92813 for the training and testing phases,respectively.The corresponding values were 0.8905 and 0.9006 for the optimized ANN,then,0.87569 and 0.89968 for the optimized SVM,respectively.The proposed paradigm is bound to be useful for solving various geotechnical engineering problems regardless of multi-dimension and nonlinearity.

A Hybrid Algorithm Based on Differential Evolution and Group Search Optimization and Its Application on Ethylene Cracking Furnace

To find the optimal operational condition when the properties of feedstock changes in the cracking furnace online,a hybrid algorithm named differential evolution group search optimization(DEGSO) is proposed,which is based on the differential evolution(DE) and the group search optimization(GSO).The DEGSO combines the advantages of the two algorithms:the high computing speed of DE and the good performance of the GSO for preventing the best particle from converging to local optimum.A cooperative method is also proposed for switching between these two algorithms.If the fitness value of one algorithm keeps invariant in several generations and less than the preset threshold,it is considered to fall into the local optimization and the other algorithm is chosen.Experiments on benchmark functions show that the hybrid algorithm outperforms GSO in accuracy,global searching ability and efficiency.The optimization of ethylene and propylene yields is illustrated as a case by DEGSO.After optimization,the yield of ethylene and propylene is increased remarkably,which provides the proper operational condition of the ethylene cracking furnace.

Hybrid particle swarm optimization with differential evolution and chaotic local search to solve reliability-redundancy allocation problems

In order to solve reliability-redundancy allocation problems more effectively, a new hybrid algorithm named CDEPSO is proposed in this work, which combines particle swarm optimization （PSO） with differential evolution （DE） and a new chaotic local search. In the CDEPSO algorithm, DE provides its best solution to PSO if the best solution obtained by DE is better than that by PSO, while the best solution in the PSO is performed by chaotic local search. To investigate the performance of CDEPSO, four typical reliability-redundancy allocation problems were solved and the results indicate that the convergence speed and robustness of CDEPSO is better than those of PSO and CPSO （a hybrid algorithm which only combines PSO with chaotic local search）. And, compared with the other six improved meta-heuristics, CDEPSO also exhibits more robust performance. In addition, a new performance was proposed to more fairly compare CDEPSO with the same six improved recta-heuristics, and CDEPSO algorithm is the best in solving these problems.