A mixed integer linear programming approach for municipal solid waste management

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What are Different Research Approaches?Comprehensive Review of Qualitative,Quantitative,and Mixed Method Research,Their Applications,Types,and Limitations

There are different ways to examine and explain a study and its findings based on using numbers as a measure,a descriptive style,or a mixture of both.These three research approaches are quantitative,qualitative,and mixed methods that are commonly used by researchers in various research studies.However,with many options regarding the research design,it seems challenging for researchers to select the most appropriate approach based on the study and realize differences.This study provides a comprehensive review of qualitative,quantitative,and mixed-method research methods.Each method is clearly defined and specifically discussed based on applications,types,advantages,and limitations to help researchers identify select the most relevant type based on each study and navigate accordingly.

Evaluation of Moving Grid Adjustment (MGA) Method in Field Variation Control

Spatial variation is often encountered when large scale field trials are conducted which can result in biased estimation or prediction of treatment (i.e. genotype) values. An effective removal of spatial variation is needed to ensure unbiased estimation or prediction and thus increase the accuracy of field data evaluation. A moving grid adjustment (MGA) method, which was proposed by Technow, was evaluated through Monte Carlo simulation for its statistical properties regarding field spatial variation control. Our simulation results showed that the MGA method can effectively account for field spatial variation if it does exist;however, this method will not change phenotype results if field spatial variation does not exist. The MGA method was applied to a large-scale cotton field trial data set with two representative agronomic traits: lint yield (strong field spatial pattern) and lint percentage (no field spatial pattern). The results suggested that the MGA method was able to effectively separate the spatial variation including blocking effects from random error variation for lint yield while the adjusted data remained almost identical to the original phenotypic data. With application of the MGA method, the estimated variance for residuals was significantly reduced (62.2% decrease) for lint yield while more genetic variation (29.7% increase) was detected compared to the original data analysis subject to the conventional randomized complete block design analysis. On the other hand, the results were almost identical for lint percentage with and without the application of the MGA method. Therefore, the MGA method can be a useful addition to enhance data analysis when field spatial pattern exists.

Multiframe track-before-detect method based on velocity filtering in mixed coordinates

In this paper,a velocity filtering based track-before-detect algorithm in mixed coordinates is presented to address the problem of integration loss caused by inaccurate motion model in polar coordinate sensors.Since the motion of a con-stant velocity(CV)target is better modeled in Cartesian coordi-nates,the search of measurements for integration in polar sensor coordinates is carried out according to the CV model in Cartesian coordinates instead of an approximate model in polar sensor coordinates.The position of each cell is converted into Cartesian coordinates and predicted according to an assumed velocity.Then,the predicted Cartesian position is converted back to polar sensor coordinates for multiframe accumulation.The use of the correct model improves integration effectiveness and consequently improves algorithm performance.To handle the weak target with unknown velocity,a velocity filter bank in mixed coordinates is presented.The influence of velocity mis-match on the performance of filter bank is analyzed,and an effi-cient strategy for filter bank design is proposed.Numerical re-sults are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the pro-posed algorithm.

Mechanical Properties and ITZ Microstructure of Recycled Aggregate Concrete Using Carbonated Recycled Coarse Aggregate

The effect of carbonation treatment and mixing method on the mechanical properties and interfacial transition zone（ITZ） properties of recycled aggregate concrete（RAC） was investigated. Properties of recycled concrete aggregate（RCA） were tested firstly. Then, five types of concretes were made and slump of fresh concrete was measured immediately after mixing. Compressive strength and splitting tensile strength of hardened concrete were measured at 28 d. Meanwhile, the microstructure of RAC was analyzed by backscattered electron（BSE） image. It was found that the water absorption ratio of carbonated recycled concrete aggregate（CRCA） was much lower when compared to the untreated RCA. Comparatively, the apparent density of CRCA was not significantly modified. The concrete strength results indicate that the mix CRAC-2 prepared with CRCA by adopting two-stage mixing approach shows the highest compressive strength value compared to the other mixes. The microstructural analysis demonstrate that the mix CRAC-2 has a much denser old ITZ than the untreated RAC because of the chemical reaction between CO2 and the hydration products of RCA. This study confirms that the ITZ microstructure of RAC can be efficiently modified by carbonation treatment of RCA and encourages broadening the application of construction and demolition wastes.

Vehicle height and leveling control of electronically controlled air suspension using mixed logical dynamical approach

Vehicle height and leveling control of electronically controlled air suspension(ECAS) still poses theoretical challenges for researchers that have not been adequately addressed in prior research. This paper investigates the design and verification of a new controller to adjust the vehicle height and to regulate the roll and pitch angles of the vehicle body(leveling control) during the height adjustment procedures. A nonlinear mechanism model of the vehicle height adjustment system is formulated to describe the dynamic behaviors of the system. By using mixed logical dynamical(MLD) approach, a novel control strategy is proposed to adjust the vehicle height by controlling the on-off statuses of the solenoid valves directly. On this basis, a correction algorithm is also designed to regulate the durations of the on-off statuses of the solenoid valves based on pulse width modulated(PWM) technology, thus the effective leveling control of the vehicle body can be guaranteed. Finally, simulations and vehicle tests results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed control methodology.

PROBABILISTIC APPROACH TO SEMILINEAR AND GENERALIZED MIXED BOUNDARY VALUE PROBLEMS

A probabilistic approach is developed to solve semilinear and generalized mixed boundaryvalue problems involving Schrodinger operators. The results obtained in this paper generalize thecorresponding results of [1] and partly generalize the result of [2] as well.

The Caputo–Fabrizio time-fractional Sharma–Tasso–Olver–Burgers equation and its valid approximations

Studying the dynamics of solitons in nonlinear time-fractional partial differential equations has received substantial attention,in the last decades.The main aim of the current investigation is to consider the time-fractional Sharma–Tasso–Olver–Burgers(STOB)equation in the Caputo–Fabrizio(CF)context and obtain its valid approximations through adopting a mixed approach composed of the homotopy analysis method(HAM)and the Laplace transform.The existence and uniqueness of the solution of the time-fractional STOB equation in the CF context are investigated by demonstrating the Lipschitz condition forφ(x,t;u)as the kernel and giving some theorems.To illustrate the CF operator effect on the dynamics of the obtained solitons,several two-and threedimensional plots are formally considered.It is shown that the mixed approach is capable of producing valid approximations to the time-fractional STOB equation in the CF context.

Index selection on seed traits under direct,cytoplasmic and maternal effects in multiple environments

Crop seeds are important sources of protein, oil, and carbohydrates for food, animal feeds, and industrial products. Recently, much attention has been paid to quality and functional properties of crop seeds. However, seed traits possess some distinct genetic characteristics in comparison with plant traits, which increase the difficulty of genetically improving these traits. In this study, diallel analysis for seed models with genotype by environment interaction （GE） effect was applied to estimate the variance-covariance components of seed traits. Mixed linear model approaches were used to estimate the genetic covariances between pair-wise seed and plant traits. The breeding values （BV） were divided into two categories for the seed models. The first category of BV was defined as the combination of direct additive, cytoplasmic, and maternal additive effects, which should be utilized for selecting stable cultivars over multi-environments. The three genetic effects, together with their GE interaction, were included in the second category of BV for selecting special lines to be grown in specific ecosystems. Accordingly, two types of selection indices for seed traits, i.e., general selection index and interaction selection index, were developed and constructed on the first and the second category BV, respectively. These proposed selection indices can be applied to solve the difficult task of simultaneously improving multiple seed traits in various environments. Data of crop seeds with regard to four seed traits and four yield traits based on the modified diallel crosses in Upland cotton （Gossypium hirsutum L.） were used as an example for demonstrating the proposed methodology.