Electrical Impedance Tomography Based on Direct Search Method

Solution to impedance distribution in electrical impedance tomography （EIT） is an ill-posed nonlinear inverse problem. It is especially difficult to reconstruct an EIT image in the center area of a measured object. Tikhonov regularization with some prior information is a sound regnlarization method for static electrical impedance tomography under the condition that some true impedance distribution information is known a priori. This paper presents a direct search method （DSM） as pretreatment of image reconstruction through which one not only can construct a regularization matrix which may locate in areas of impedance change, but also can obtain an initial impedance distribution more similar to the true impedance distribution, as well as better current modes which can better distinguish the initial distribution and the true distribution. Simulation results indicate that, by using DSM, resolution in the center area of the measured object can be improved significantly.

Well production optimization using streamline features-based objective function and Bayesian adaptive direct search algorithm

Well production optimization is a complex and time-consuming task in the oilfield development.The combination of reservoir numerical simulator with optimization algorithms is usually used to optimize well production.This method spends most of computing time in objective function evaluation by reservoir numerical simulator which limits its optimization efficiency.To improve optimization efficiency,a well production optimization method using streamline features-based objective function and Bayesian adaptive direct search optimization(BADS)algorithm is established.This new objective function,which represents the water flooding potential,is extracted from streamline features.It only needs to call the streamline simulator to run one time step,instead of calling the simulator to calculate the target value at the end of development,which greatly reduces the running time of the simulator.Then the well production optimization model is established and solved by the BADS algorithm.The feasibility of the new objective function and the efficiency of this optimization method are verified by three examples.Results demonstrate that the new objective function is positively correlated with the cumulative oil production.And the BADS algorithm is superior to other common algorithms in convergence speed,solution stability and optimization accuracy.Besides,this method can significantly accelerate the speed of well production optimization process compared with the objective function calculated by other conventional methods.It can provide a more effective basis for determining the optimal well production for actual oilfield development.

Differential evolution with controlled search direction

A novel and simple technique to control the search direction of the differential mutation was proposed.In order to verify the performance of this method,ten widely used benchmark functions were chosen and the results were compared with the original differential evolution(DE)algorithm.Experimental results indicate that the search direction controlled DE algorithm obtains better results than the original DE algorithm in term of the solution quality and convergence rate.

On the direct searches for non-smooth stochastic optimization problems

Many difficult engineering problems cannot be solved by the conventional optimization techniques in practice. Direct searches that need no recourse to explicit derivatives are revived and become popular since the new century. In order to get a deep insight into this field, some notes on the direct searches for non-smooth optimization problems are made. The global convergence vs. local convergence and their influences on expected solutions for simulation-based stochastic optimization are pointed out. The sufficient and simple decrease criteria for step acceptance are analyzed, and why simple decrease is enough for globalization in direct searches is identified. The reason to introduce the positive spanning set and its usage in direct searches is explained. Other topics such as the generalization of direct searches to bound, linear and non-linear constraints are also briefly discussed.

Watermark Embedding for Direct Binary Searched Halftone Images by Adopting Visual Cryptography

In this paper,two methods are proposed to embed visual watermark into direct binary search(DBS)halftone images,which are called Adjusted Direct Binary Search(ADBS)and Dual Adjusted Direct Binary Search(DADBS).DADBS is an improved version of ADBS.By using the proposed methods,the visual watermark will be embedded into two halftone images separately,thus,the watermark can be revealed when these two halftone images are overlaid.Experimental results show that both methods can achieve excellent image visual quality and decoded visual patterns.

Hybrid Optimization Based PID Controller Design for Unstable System

PID controllers play an important function in determining tuning para-meters in any process sector to deliver optimal and resilient performance for non-linear,stable and unstable processes.The effectiveness of the presented hybrid metaheuristic algorithms for a class of time-delayed unstable systems is described in this study when applicable to the problems of PID controller and Smith PID controller.The Direct Multi Search(DMS)algorithm is utilised in this research to combine the local search ability of global heuristic algorithms to tune a PID controller for a time-delayed unstable process model.A Metaheuristics Algorithm such as,SA(Simulated Annealing),MBBO(Modified Biogeography Based Opti-mization),BBO(Biogeography Based Optimization),PBIL(Population Based Incremental Learning),ES(Evolution Strategy),StudGA(Stud Genetic Algo-rithms),PSO(Particle Swarm Optimization),StudGA(Stud Genetic Algorithms),ES(Evolution Strategy),PSO(Particle Swarm Optimization)and ACO(Ant Col-ony Optimization)are used to tune the PID controller and Smith predictor design.The effectiveness of the suggested algorithms DMS-SA,DMS-BBO,DMS-MBBO,DMS-PBIL,DMS-StudGA,DMS-ES,DMS-ACO,and DMS-PSO for a class of dead-time structures employing PID controller and Smith predictor design controllers is illustrated using unit step set point response.When compared to other optimizations,the suggested hybrid metaheuristics approach improves the time response analysis when extended to the problem of smith predictor and PID controller designed tuning.

Data Hiding in AMBTC Images Using Selective XOR Hiding Scheme

Nowadays since the Internet is ubiquitous,the frequency of data transfer through the public network is increasing.Hiding secure data in these transmitted data has emerged broad security issue,such as authentication and copyright protection.On the other hand,considering the transmission efficiency issue,image transmission usually involves image compression in Internet-based applications.To address both issues,this paper presents a data hiding scheme for the image compression method called absolute moment block truncation coding(AMBTC).First,an image is divided into nonoverlapping blocks through AMBTC compression,the blocks are classified four types,namely smooth,semi-smooth,semi-complex,and complex.The secret data are embedded into the smooth blocks by using a simple replacement strategy.The proposed method respectively embeds nine bits(and five bits)of secret data into the bitmap of the semi-smooth blocks(and semicomplex blocks)through the exclusive-or(XOR)operation.The secret data are embedded into the complex blocks by using a hidden function.After the embedding phase,the direct binary search(DBS)method is performed to improve the image qualitywithout damaging the secret data.The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method yields higher quality and hiding capacity than other reference methods.

A DIRECT SEARCH FRAME-BASED ADAPTIVE BARZILAI-BORWEIN METHOD

This paper proposes a direct search frame-based adaptive Barzilai-Borwein method for unconstrained minimization. The method is based on the framework of frame-based algorithms proposed by Coope and Price, but we use the strategy of ABB method and the rotational minimal positive basis to reduce the computation work at each iteration. Under some mild assumptions, the convergence of this approach will be established. Through five hundreds and twenty numerical tests using the CUTEr test problem library, we show that the proposed method is promising.

A New Direct Search Method Based on Separable Fractional Interpolation Model

In this paper, we propose a new separable fractional interpolation model which can be established by 2n interpolation points where n is the number of variables. Based on this model, a new direct search method is presented. In this method, a new iterate is determined by solving the fractional interpolation model in trust region. Under mild assumptions, the convergence results of this method are given and proved, Numerical experiments show that the new method is promising.

A Fastly Convergent Directly Feasible Directions Method for Nonlinearly Inequality Constrained Optimization

In this paper, a new superlinearly convergent algorithm for nonlinearly constrained optimization problems is presented. The search directions are directly computed by a few formulas, and neither quadratic programming nor linear equation need to be sovled. Under mild assumptions, the new algorithm is shown to possess global and superlinear convergence.

Forecast for peak infections in the second wave of the Omicron after the adjustment of zero-COVID policy in the mainland of China

On December 7,2022,the Chinese government optimized the current epidemic prevention and control policy,and no longer adopted the zero-COVID policy and mandatory quarantine measures.Based on the above policy changes,this paper establishes a compartment dynamics model considering age distribution,home isolation and vaccinations.Parameter estimation was performed using improved least squares and Nelder-Mead simplex algorithms combined with modified case data.Then,using the estimated parameter values to predict a second wave of the outbreak,the peak of severe cases will reach on 8 May 2023,the number of severe cases will reach 206,000.Next,it is proposed that with the extension of the effective time of antibodies obtained after infection,the peak of severe cases in the second wave of the epidemic will be delayed,and the final scale of the disease will be reduced.When the effectiveness of antibodies is 6 months,the severe cases of the second wave will peak on July 5,2023,the number of severe cases is 194,000.Finally,the importance of vaccination rates is demonstrated,when the vaccination rate of susceptible people under 60 years old reaches 98%,and the vaccination rate of susceptible people over 60 years old reaches 96%,the peak of severe cases in the second wave of the epidemic will be reached on 13 July 2023,when the number of severe cases is 166,000.

Enhanced elastic beam model with BADS integrated for settlement assessment of immersed tunnels

Excessive settlement may induce structural damage and water leakage in immersed tunnels,seriously threatening the tunnels’safety.However,making accurate assessment of the settlement in immersed tunnels is difficult due to the incomplete knowledge of the geotechnical parameters and the inadequacy of the model itself.This paper proposes an effective method to accurately assess the settlement in immersed tunnels.An enhanced beam on elastic foundation model(E-BEFM)is developed for the settlement assessment,with the Bayesian adaptive direct search algorithm adopted to estimate unknown model parameters based on previous observations.The proposed method is applied to a field case of the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao immersed tunnel.The original BEFM is used for comparison to highlight the better assessment performance of E-BEFM,particularly for joints’differential settlement.Results show that the proposed method can provide accurate predictions of the total settlement,angular distortion(a representation of tubes’relatively differential settlement),and joints’differential settlement,which consequently supports the associated maintenance decision-making and potential risk prevention for immersed tunnels in service.

Parameter-Free Search of Time-Series Discord

Time-series discord is widely used in data mining applications to characterize anomalous subsequences in time series. Compared to some other discord search algorithms, the direct search algorithm based on the recurrence plot shows the advantage of being fast and parameter free. The direct search algorithm, however, relies on quasi-periodicity in input time series, an assumption that limits the algorithm＇s applicability. In this paper, we eliminate the periodicity assumption from the direct search algorithm by proposing a reference function for subsequences and a new sampling strategy based on the reference function. These measures result in a new algorithm with improved efficiency and robustness, as evidenced by our empirical evaluation.