EXPERT SYSTEM AND ITS APPLICATION IN THE SELECTION OF PIT RETAINING STRUCTURES

This paper describes the development of an expert system(ES) on earth retaining structures for the selection and design.The ES retaining is an interactive menudriven system and consists of two main parts—the selection part,selectwall and the design part.Selectwall is developed using the knowledge base and it makes a choice of the most appropriate retaining structure.The design part is developed by three independent subprograms which perform detailed design including strength,deformation,stability of the retaining structure.The calculation results are illustrated by plotting the diagram.Using this program,the design procedure of the retaining structure can be performed automatically.

Effects of processing parameters on fabrication defects,microstructure and mechanical properties of additive manufactured Mg–Nd–Zn–Zr alloy by selective laser melting process

Mg–3Nd–0.2Zn–0.4Zr(NZ30K,wt.%)alloy is a new kind of high-performance metallic biomaterial.The combination of the NZ30K Magnesium(Mg)alloy and selective laser melting(SLM)process seems to be an ideal solution to produce porous Mg degradable implants.However,the microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of the SLMed NZ30K Mg alloy were not yet studied systematically.Therefore,the fabrication defects,microstructure,and mechanical properties of the SLMed NZ30K alloy under different processing parameters were investigated.The results show that there are two types of fabrication defects in the SLMed NZ30K alloy,gas pores and unfused defects.With the increase of the laser energy density,the porosity sharply decreases to the minimum first and then slightly increases.The minimum porosity is 0.49±0.18%.While the microstructure varies from the large grains with lamellar structure inside under low laser energy density,to the large grains with lamellar structure inside&the equiaxed grains&the columnar grains under middle laser energy density,and further to the fine equiaxed grains&the columnar grains under high laser energy density.The lamellar structure in the large grain is a newly observed microstructure for the NZ30K Mg alloy.Higher laser energy density leads to finer grains,which enhance all the yield strength(YS),ultimate tensile strength(UTS)and elongation,and the best comprehensive mechanical properties obtained are YS of 266±2.1 MPa,UTS of 296±5.2 MPa,with an elongation of 4.9±0.68%.The SLMed NZ30K Mg alloy with a bimodal-grained structure consisting of fine equiaxed grains and coarser columnar grains has better elongation and a yield drop phenomenon.

Effects of selection cutting on the forest structure and species diversity of evergreen broad-leaved forest in northern Fujian, southern China

The short-term effects of selection curing of different intensities on the forest structure and species diversity of evergreen broad-leaved forest in northern Fujian Province were investigated and analyzed. The results showed that selection curing of low and medium intensities caused little variation in the forest structure. After curing, the dominant species retained their leading status in the community. However, the community structure changed significantly following selection curing of high and extra-high intensities; the status of the dominant species of the community declined dramatically. Some tree species began to disappear from the sampling plots. Except for extra-high intensity curing, the diversity of tree species did not change significantly for the other three curing intensities. However, the evenness of the stands was very different among the four kinds of curing plots. For low and medium intensity selection cutting, the evenness declined slightly. For extra-high intensity selection curing, the evenness increased to some extent, which might be due to a more even distribution of tree species after curing. CuRing operations resulted in some adverse reactions to development of arborous species diversity of evergreen broad-leaved forest, particularly serious damage to the forest canopy. But the rational selection cuttings, which may benefit the restoration and maintenance of species diversity over a long period and may come about from the variations in environmental factors such as sunlight, temperature and humidity.

Image Motion Deblurring Based on Salient Structure Selection and L0-2 Norm Kernel Estimation

Single image motion deblurring has been a very challenging problem in the field of image processing. Although there are many researches had been proposed to solve this problem, it still has problems on kernel accuracy. In order to improve the kernel accuracy, an effective structure selection method was used to select the salient structure of the blur image. Then a novel kernel estimation method based on L0-2 norm was proposed. To guarantee the sparse kernel and eliminate the negative influence of details L0-norm was used. And L2-norm was used to ensure the continuity of kernel. Many experiments were done to compare proposed method and state-of-the-art methods. The results show that our method can estimate a better kernel and use less time than previous work, especially when the size of blur kernel is large.

Selection and modification of ground motion records using Newmark-Hall spectrum as target spectrum for long-period structures

Input ground motions have significant impacts on the uncertainty of structural responses in time-history analysis.In this study,records were selected and scaled for the evaluation of mean structural responses according to the target spectrum.The Newmark-Hall spectrum is closely related to seismic response of short,medium and long-period structures,so it was taken as the target spectrum here.The nonlinear time-history analyses of 9-story and 20-story steel moment-resisting frame structures were carried out as examples.They represent medium and long-period buildings,respectively.Three target spectra with risk of 50%,10%and 2%probabilities for exceedance in 50 years were calculated by the average Newmark-Hall spectrum method for three ground motion sets developed in the SAC Steel Project.The predicted structural mean responses of these Newmark-Hall spectra were compared with those calculated by the average spectral acceleration method for the same record set.It is found that both methods have similar accuracy for estimating the structural mean response.However,the method proposed herein is more effective in reducing the variability of the structural responses.Also,the proposed method is more advantageous for the time-history analysis of long-period structures or structures with more severe nonlinear responses under strong seismic excitations.

Unsupervised Feature Selection Using Structured Self-Representation

Unsupervised feature selection has become an important and challenging problem faced with vast amounts of unlabeled and high-dimension data in machine learning. We propose a novel unsupervised feature selection method using Structured Self-Representation( SSR) by simultaneously taking into account the selfrepresentation property and local geometrical structure of features. Concretely,according to the inherent selfrepresentation property of features,the most representative features can be selected. Mean while,to obtain more accurate results,we explore local geometrical structure to constrain the representation coefficients to be close to each other if the features are close to each other. Furthermore,an efficient algorithm is presented for optimizing the objective function. Finally,experiments on the synthetic dataset and six benchmark real-world datasets,including biomedical data,letter recognition digit data and face image data,demonstrate the encouraging performance of the proposed algorithm compared with state-of-the-art algorithms.

Research of CBR, DM and smart algorithms based design methods for high-rise building structure form-selection

First, the high-rise building structure design process is divided into three relevant steps, that is, scheme generation and creation, performance evaluation, and scheme optimization. Then with the application of relational database, the case database of high-rise structures is constructed, the structure form-selection designing methods such as the smart algorithm based on CBR, DM, FINS, NN and GA is presented, and the original forms system of this method and its general structure are given. CBR and DM are used to generate scheme candidates; FINS and NN to evaluate and optimize the scheme performance; GA to create new structure forms. Finally, the application cases are presented, whose results fit in with the real project. It proves by combining and using the expert intelligence, algorithm intelligence and machine intelligence that this method makes good use of not only the engineering project knowledge and expertise but also much deeper knowledge contained in various engineering cases. In other words, it is because the form selection has a strong background support of vast real cases that its results prove more reliable and more acceptable. So the introduction of this method provides an effective approach to improving the quality, efficiency, automatic and smart level of high-rise structures form selection design.

Zooplankton community size-structure change and mesh size selection under the thermal stress caused by a power plant in a semi-enclosed bay

Zooplankton samples were collected using 505, 160 and 77 μm mesh nets around a power plant during four seasons in 2011. We measured total length of zooplankton and divided zooplankton into seven size classes in order to explore how zooplankton community size-structure might be altered by thermal discharge from power plant. The total length of zooplankton varied from 93.7 to 40 074.7 μm. The spatial distribution of mesozooplankton(200-2 000 μm) populations were rarely affected by thermal discharge, while macro-(2 000-10 000 μm)and megalo-zooplankton(>10 000 μm) had an obvious tendency to migrate away from the outfall of power plant.Thus, zooplankton community tended to become smaller and biodiversity reduced close to power plant.Moreover, we compared the zooplankton communities in three different mesh size nets. Species richness,abundance, evenness index and Shannon-Wiener diversity index of the 505 μm mesh size were significantly lower than those recorded from the 160 and 77 μm mesh size. Average zooplankton abundance was highest in the 77 μm mesh net((27 690.0±1 633.7) ind./m^3), followed by 160 μm mesh net((9 531.1±1 079.5) ind./m^3), and lowest in 505 μm mesh net((494.4±104.7) ind./m^3). The ANOSIM and SIMPER tests confirmed that these differences were mainly due to small zooplankton and early developmental stages of zooplankton. It is the first time to use the 77 μm mesh net to sample zooplankton in such an environment. The 77 μm mesh net had the overwhelming abundance of the copepod genus Oithona, as an order of magnitude greater than recorded for 160 μm mesh net and 100% loss through the 505 μm mesh net. These results indicate that the use of a small or even multiple sampling net is necessary to accurately quantify entire zooplankton community around coastal power plant.

Deducing Complete Selection Rule Set for Driver Nodes to Guarantee Network’s Structural Controllability

Structural controllability is critical for operating and controlling large-scale complex networks. In real applications, for a given network, it is always desirable to have more selections for driver nodes which make the network structurally controllable. Different from the works in complex network field where structural controllability is often used to explore the emergence properties of complex networks at a macro level,in this paper, we investigate it for control design purpose at the application level and focus on describing and obtaining the solution space for all selections of driver nodes to guarantee structural controllability. In accord with practical applications,we define the complete selection rule set as the solution space which is composed of a series of selection rules expressed by intuitive algebraic forms. It explicitly indicates which nodes must be controlled and how many nodes need to be controlled in a node set and thus is particularly helpful for freely selecting driver nodes. Based on two algebraic criteria of structural controllability, we separately develop an input-connectivity algorithm and a relevancy algorithm to deduce selection rules for driver nodes. In order to reduce the computational complexity,we propose a pretreatment algorithm to reduce the scale of network's structural matrix efficiently, and a rearrangement algorithm to partition the matrix into several smaller ones. A general procedure is proposed to get the complete selection rule set for driver nodes which guarantee network's structural controllability. Simulation tests with efficiency analysis of the proposed algorithms are given and the result of applying the proposed procedure to some real networks is also shown, and these all indicate the validity of the proposed procedure.

SMFs-supported Pd nanocatalysts in selective acetylene hydrogenation:Pore structure-dependent deactivation mechanism

In the present study,CNFs,ZnO and Al2O3 were deposited on the SMFs panels to investigate the deactivation mechanism of Pd-based catalysts in selective acetylene hydrogenation reaction.The examined supports were characterized by SEM,NH3-TPD and N2adsorption-desorption isotherms to indicate their intrinsic characteristics.Furthermore,in order to understand the mechanism of deactivation,the resulted green oil was characterized using FTIR and SIM DIS.FTIR results confirmed the presence of more unsaturated constituents and then,more branched hydrocarbons formed upon the reaction over alumina-supported catalyst in comparison with the ones supported on CNFs and ZnO,which in turn,could block the pores mouths.Besides the limited hydrogen transfer,N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms results supported that the lowest pore diameters of Al2O3/SMFs close to the surface led to fast deactivation,compared with the other catalysts,especially at higher temperatures.

Meter-Scale Thin-Walled Structure with Lattice Infill for Fuel Tank Supporting Component of Satellite:Multiscale Design and Experimental Verification

Lightweight thin-walled structures with lattice infill are widely desired in satellite for their high stiffness-to-weight ratio and superior buckling strength resulting fromthe sandwich effect.Such structures can be fabricated bymetallic additive manufacturing technique,such as selective laser melting(SLM).However,the maximum dimensions of actual structures are usually in a sub-meter scale,which results in restrictions on their appliance in aerospace and other fields.In this work,a meter-scale thin-walled structure with lattice infill is designed for the fuel tank supporting component of the satellite by integrating a self-supporting lattice into the thickness optimization of the thin-wall.The designed structure is fabricated by SLM of AlSi10Mg and cold metal transfer welding technique.Quasi-static mechanical tests and vibration tests are both conducted to verify the mechanical strength of the designed large-scale lattice thin-walled structure.The experimental results indicate that themeter-scale thin-walled structure with lattice infill could meet the dimension and lightweight requirements of most spacecrafts.

Dendritic tip selection during solidification of alloys:Insights from phase-field simulations

The effect of undercooling DT and the interface energy anisotropy parameter e4 on the shape of the equiaxed dendritic tip has been investigated by using a quantitative phase-field model for solidification of binary alloys.It was found that the tip radius r increases and the tip shape amplitude coefficient A4 decreases with the increase of the fitting range for all cases.The dendrite tip shape selection parameter sdecreases and then stabilizes with the increase of the fitting range,and sincreases with the increase of e4.The relationship between sand e4 follows a power-law function sµea 4,and a is independent of DT but dependent on the fitting range.Numerical results demonstrate that the predicted sis consistent with the curve of microscopic solvability theory(MST)for e4<0.02,and sobtained from our phase-field simulations is sensitive to the undercooling when e4 is fixed.

Selective laser melted near-beta titanium alloy Ti-5Al-5Mo-5V-1Cr-1Fe:Microstructure and mechanical properties

In this work,a near-beta Ti-5Al-5Mo-5V-1Cr-1Fe titanium alloy was fabricated by selective laser melting(SLM),and the microstructure evolution together with the mechanical properties was studied.The as-fabricated alloy showed columnarβgrains spreading over multiple layers and paralleling to the building direction.The distinct microstructure of as-fabricated alloy was composed of near-β(more than 98.1%)with a submicron cellular structure.Different SLM processing parameters such as hatch spacing could affect the microstructure of as-fabricated alloy,which could thus further significantly affect the mechanical properties of as-fabricated alloy.In addition,the as-fabricated alloy with the distinct microstructure exhibits yield strength of 818 MPa combined with elongation of more than 19%,which shows that SLM is a potential technology for manufacturing near-beta titanium components.

Weapon system portfolio selection based on structural robustness

The system portfolio selection is a fundamental frontier issue in the development planning and demonstration of weapon equipment.The scientific and reasonable development of the weapon system portfolio is of great significance for optimizing the design of equipment architecture,realizing effective resource allocation,and increasing the campaign effectiveness of integrated joint operations.From the perspective of system-ofsystems,this paper proposes a unified framework called structure-oriented weapon system portfolio selection(SWSPS)to solve the weapon system portfolio selection problem based on structural invulnerability.First,the types of equipment and the relationship between the equipment are sorted out based on the operation loop theory,and a heterogeneous combat network model of the weapon equipment system is established by abstracting the equipment and their relationships into different types of nodes and edges respectively.Then,based on the combat network model,the operation loop comprehensive evaluation index(OLCEI)is introduced to quantitatively describe the structural robustness of the combat network.Next,a weapon system combination selection model is established with the goal of maximizing the operation loop comprehensive evaluation index within the constraints of capability requirements and budget limitations.Finally,our proposed SWSPS is demonstrated through a case study of an armored infantry battalion.The results show that our proposed SWSPS can achieve excellent performance in solving the weapon system portfolio selection problem,which yields many meaningful insights and guidance to the future equipment development planning.

Design strategies and structure‐performance relationships of heterogeneous catalysts for selective hydrogenation of 1,3‐butadiene

Selective hydrogenation of 1,3‐butadiene is an essential process in the upgrading of the crude C4 cut from the petroleum chemical sector.Catalyst design is crucial to achieve a virtually alkadiene‐free product while avoiding over‐hydrogenating valuable olefins.In addition to the great industrial relevance,this demanding selectivity pattern renders 1,3‐butadiene hydrogenation a widely used model reaction to discriminate selective hydrogenation catalysts in academia.Nonetheless,critical reviews on the catalyst development are extremely lacking in literature.In this review,we aim to provide the reader an in‐depth overview of different catalyst families,particularly the precious metal‐based monometallic catalysts(Pd,Pt,and Au),developed in the last half century.The emphasis is placed on the development of new strategies to design high‐performance architectures,the establishment of structure‐performance relationships,and the reaction and deactivation mechanisms.Thrilling directions for future optimization of catalyst formulations and engineering aspect are also provided.

Transmission properties of frequency selective structures with air gaps

The transmission properties of compound frequency selective structures with dielectric slab and air gaps were investigated by computation and experimentation. Mechanism analyses were also carried out. Results show that the air gaps have a distinct influence on the transmission properties. Resonant frequency of the structure would increase rapidly when the air gap appears. After the gap gets larger to a specific value, generally 1/5 wavelength corresponding to the resonant frequency, the transmission properties would change periodically with the gap thickness. The change of transmission properties in one period has a close relationship with the dielectric thickness. These results provide a new method for designing a bandpass radome of large incidence angle and low loss with the concept of stealth shield radome.

A Comparative Study on the Selected Area Electron Diffraction Pattern of Fe Oxide/Au Core-shell Structured Nanoparticles

The selected area electron diffraction （SAED） pattern of magnetic iron oxide core/gold shell nanoparticles has been studied. For the composite particles with mean size less than 10 nm, their SAED pattern is found to be different from either the pattern of pure Fe oxide nanoparticles or that of pure Au particles. Based on the fact that the ring diameters of these composite particles fit the characteristic relation for the fcc structure, the Au atoms on surfaces of the concerned particles are supposed to pack in a way more tightly than they usually do in pure Au nanoparticles. The driving force for this is the coherency strain which enables the shell material at the heterostructured interface to adapt the lattice parameters of the core.

Periodic Lattice Porous Structure Produced by Selective Laser Melting:Process,Experiment and Numerical Simulation Analysis

To accurately perform the coupled simulation of temperature field and stress field of complex parts and porous structures under the optimal manufacturing process parameters,three kinds of porous structures with different complexity were designed in this paper.Firstly,ANSYS additive software was used to conduct the stress/deformation simulation of the whole structure under different scanning strategies.Secondly,the optimal scanning strategy for different porous structures was determined,then the experimental preparation was performed,and mechanical properties of compression were tested and studied.The results show that the elastic modulus and yield strength increase with the increase of pole diameter/wall thickness.In addition,the quasi-static compression simulation of different structures was performed,and the compression performance was analyzed based on the experimental data.Finally,the stress concentration region of different structures was obtained.

Evolutionary selection on synonymous codons in RNA G-quadruplex structural region

To investigate how synonymous codons have been adapted to the formation of ribonucleic acid(RNA)G-quadruplex(rG4)structure,a computational searching algorithm G4Hunter was applied to detect rG4 structures in protein-coding sequences of mRNAs in five eukaryotic species.The native sequences forming rG4s were then compared with randomized sequences to evaluate selection on synonymous codons.Factors that may influence the formation of rG4 were also investigated,and the selection pressures of rG4 in different gene regions were compared to explore its potential roles in gene regulation.The results show universal selective pressure acts on synonymous codons in rG4 regions to facilitate rG4 formation in five eukaryotic organisms.While G-rich codon combinations are preferred in the rG4 structural region,C-rich codon combinations are selectively unfavorable for rG4 formation.Gene's codon usage bias,nucleotide composition,and evolutionary rate can account for the selective variations on synonymous codons among rG4 structures within a species.Moreover,rG4 structures in the translational initiation region showed significantly higher selective pressures than those in the translational elongation region.