Multi-segment and Multi-ply Overlapping Process of Multi Coupled Activities Based on Valid Information Evolution

Complex product development will inevitably face the design planning of the multi-coupled activities, and overlapping these activities could potentially reduce product development time, but there is a risk of the additional cost. Although the downstream task information dependence to the upstream task is already considered in the current researches, but the design process overall iteration caused by the information interdependence between activities is hardly discussed; especially the impact on the design process＇ overall iteration from the valid information accumulation process. Secondly, most studies only focus on the single overlapping process of two activities, rarely take multi-segment and multi-ply overlapping process of multi coupled activities into account; especially the inherent link between product development time and cost which originates from the overlapping process of multi coupled activities. For the purpose of solving the above problems, as to the insufficiency of the accumulated valid information in overlapping process, the function of the valid information evolution （VIE） degree is constructed. Stochastic process theory is used to describe the design information exchange and the valid information accumulation in the overlapping segment, and then the planning models of the single overlapping segment are built. On these bases, by analyzing overlapping processes and overlapping features of multi-coupling activities, multi-segment and multi-ply overlapping planning models are built; by sorting overlapping processes and analyzing the construction of these planning models, two conclusions are obtained： （1） As to multi-segment and multi-ply overlapping of multi coupled activities, the total decrement of the task set development time is the sum of the time decrement caused by basic overlapping segments, and minus the sum of the time increment caused by multiple overlapping segments; （2） the total increment of development cost is the sum of the cost increment caused by all overlapping process. And then, based on overlapping degree analysis of these planning models, by the V1E degree function, the four lemmas theory proofs are represented, and two propositions are finally proved： （1） The multi-ply overlapping of the multi coupled activities will weaken the basic overlapping effect on the development cycle time reduction （2） Overlapping the multi coupled activities will decrease product development cycle, but increase product development cost. And there is trade-off between development time and cost. And so, two methods are given to slacken and eliminate multi-ply overlapping effects. At last, an example about a vehicle upper subsystem design illustrates the application of the proposed models; compared with a sequential execution pattern, the decreasing of development cycle （22%） and the increasing of development cost （3%） show the validity of the method in the example The proposed research not only lays a theoretical foundation for correctly planning complex product development process, but also provides specific and effective operation methods for overlapping multi coupled activities.

A Genetic-Algorithm-Based Information Evolution Model for Social Networks

the existing information diffusion models focus on analyzing the spatial distribution of certain pieces of messages in social networks. However, these conventional models ignored another important characteristic of diffusion: gradually changing of message contents due to the ‘new' and ‘comment' mechanisms. A novel genetic-algorithm-based information evolution model is proposed to reproduce both the diffusion and development process of information in social networks. This model firstly proposes a five-tuple to represent three types of topics: independent, competitive and mutually exclusive. Furthermore, it adopts mutation operator and forms new crossover and mutation rules to simulate four typical interactions between individuals, which bring the advantage of reproducing the information evolution process in both popularity and content.A series of experiments tested on public datasets demonstrate that: 1) independent and competitive topics of information rarely affect each other while mutually exclusive topics significantly suppress the diffusion processes of each other; 2) lower mutation probability leads to decreasing of final information amount. The experimental results show that our evolution model is more reasonable and feasible in demonstrating the evolution of information in social networks.

Dynamic multi-objective differential evolution algorithm based on the information of evolution progress

The multi-objective differential evolution(MODE)algorithm is an effective method to solve multi-objective optimization problems.However,in the absence of any information of evolution progress,the optimization strategy of the MODE algorithm still appears as an open problem.In this paper,a dynamic multi-objective differential evolution algorithm,based on the information of evolution progress(DMODE-IEP),is developed to improve the optimization performance.The main contributions of DMODE-IEP are as follows.First,the information of evolution progress,using the fitness values,is proposed to describe the evolution progress of MODE.Second,the dynamic adjustment mechanisms of evolution parameter values,mutation strategies and selection parameter value based on the information of evolution progress,are designed to balance the global exploration ability and the local exploitation ability.Third,the convergence of DMODE-IEP is proved using the probability theory.Finally,the testing results on the standard multi-objective optimization problem and the wastewater treatment process verify that the optimization effect of DMODE-IEP algorithm is superior to the other compared state-of-the-art multi-objective optimization algorithms,including the quality of the solutions,and the optimization speed of the algorithm.

Modified sequential importance resampling filter

In order to deal with the particle degeneracy and impov- erishment problems existed in particle filters, a modified sequential importance resampling （MSIR） filter is proposed. In this filter, the resampling is translated into an evolutional process just like the biological evolution. A particle generator is constructed, which introduces the current measurement information （CMI） into the resampled particles. In the evolution, new particles are first pro- duced through the particle generator, each of which is essentially an unbiased estimation of the current true state. Then, new and old particles are recombined for the sake of raising the diversity among the particles. Finally, those particles who have low quality are eliminated. Through the evolution, all the particles retained are regarded as the optimal ones, and these particles are utilized to update the current state. By using the proposed resampling approach, not only the CMI is incorporated into each resampled particle, but also the particle degeneracy and the loss of diver- sity among the particles are mitigated, resulting in the improved estimation accuracy. Simulation results show the superiorities of the proposed filter over the standard sequential importance re- sampling （SIR） filter, auxiliary particle filter and unscented Kalman particle filter.

Dynamic statistical information theory

In recent years we extended Shannon static statistical information theory to dynamic processes and established a Shannon dynamic statistical information theory, whose core is the evolution law of dynamic entropy and dynamic information. We also proposed a corresponding Boltzmman dynamic statistical information theory. Based on the fact that the state variable evolution equation of respective dynamic systems, i.e. Fok- ker-Planck equation and Liouville diffusion equation can be regarded as their information symbol evolution equation, we derived the nonlinear evolution equations of Shannon dy- namic entropy density and dynamic information density and the nonlinear evolution equa- tions of Boltzmann dynamic entropy density and dynamic information density, that de- scribe respectively the evolution law of dynamic entropy and dynamic information. The evolution equations of these two kinds of dynamic entropies and dynamic informations show in unison that the time rate of change of dynamic entropy densities is caused by their drift, diffusion and production in state variable space inside the systems and coordinate space in the transmission processes; and that the time rate of change of dynamic infor- mation densities originates from their drift, diffusion and dissipation in state variable space inside the systems and coordinate space in the transmission processes. Entropy and in- formation have been combined with the state and its law of motion of the systems. Fur- thermore we presented the formulas of two kinds of entropy production rates and infor- mation dissipation rates, the expressions of two kinds of drift information flows and diffu- sion information flows. We proved that two kinds of information dissipation rates (or the decrease rates of the total information) were equal to their corresponding entropy produc- tion rates (or the increase rates of the total entropy) in the same dynamic system. We obtained the formulas of two kinds of dynamic mutual informations and dynamic channel capacities reflecting the dynamic dissipation characteristics in the transmission processes, which change into their maximum—the present static mutual information and static channel capacity under the limit case where the proportion of channel length to informa- tion transmission rate approaches to zero. All these unified and rigorous theoretical for- mulas and results are derived from the evolution equations of dynamic information and dynamic entropy without adding any extra assumption. In this review, we give an overview on the above main ideas, methods and results, and discuss the similarity and difference between two kinds of dynamic statistical information theories.