Deep Reinforcement Learning-Based Task Offloading and Service Migrating Policies in Service Caching-Assisted Mobile Edge Computing

Emerging mobile edge computing(MEC)is considered a feasible solution for offloading the computation-intensive request tasks generated from mobile wireless equipment(MWE)with limited computational resources and energy.Due to the homogeneity of request tasks from one MWE during a longterm time period,it is vital to predeploy the particular service cachings required by the request tasks at the MEC server.In this paper,we model a service caching-assisted MEC framework that takes into account the constraint on the number of service cachings hosted by each edge server and the migration of request tasks from the current edge server to another edge server with service caching required by tasks.Furthermore,we propose a multiagent deep reinforcement learning-based computation offloading and task migrating decision-making scheme(MBOMS)to minimize the long-term average weighted cost.The proposed MBOMS can learn the near-optimal offloading and migrating decision-making policy by centralized training and decentralized execution.Systematic and comprehensive simulation results reveal that our proposed MBOMS can converge well after training and outperforms the other five baseline algorithms.

Screening non-noble metal oxides to boost the low-temperature combustion of polyethylene waste in air

Globally,the efficient utilization of polymer wastes is one of the most important issues for current sustainable development topics.Herein,a green and efficient low-temperature combustion approach is proposed to deal with polymer wastes and recover heat energy,simultaneously alleviating the environment and energy crisis.Non-noble metal oxides(Al_(2)O_(3),Fe_(2)O_(3),NiO_(2),ZrO_(2),La_(2)O_(3)and CeO_(2)) were prepared,characterized and screened to boost the low-temperature combustion of polyethylene waste at 300℃ in air.The mass change,heat release and CO_(x) formation were studied in details and employed to evaluate the combustion rate and efficiency.It was found that CeO_(2)significantly enhanced the combustion rate and efficiency,which was respectively 2 and 7 times that of non-catalytic case.An interesting phenomenon was observed that the catalytic performance of CeO_(2) in polyethylene low-temperature combustion was significantly improved by the 7-day storage in the room environment or water treatment.XPS analysis confirmed the co-existence of Ce^(3+) and Ce^(4+) in CeO_(2),and the 7-day storage and water treatment promoted the amount of Ce^(3+),which facilitated the formation of the oxygen vacancies.That may be the reason why CeO_(2) exhibited excellent catalytic performance in polyethylene low-temperature combustion.

Experiment and modeling of coke formation and catalyst deactivation in n-heptane catalytic cracking over HZSM-5 zeolites

Since paraffins catalytic cracking was of significant importance to light olefins and aromatics production,this work was intended to gain insights into the feature and model of coke formation and catalyst deactivation in n-heptane catalytic cracking over HZSM-5 zeolites. 18 tests of n-heptane catalytic cracking were designed and carried out over HZSM-5 zeolites in a wide range of operating conditions. A particular attention was paid to the measurement of the conversion, product distribution, coke content, and the porosity and acidity of the fresh and spent HZSM-5 zeolites. It was found that alkene and aromatic promoted coke formation, and it reduced the pore volume and acid site of HZSM-5 zeolites, tailoring its performance in n-heptane catalytic cracking. The specific relationship between HZSM-5 zeolites, n-heptane conversion, product distribution and coke formation was quantitively characterized by the exponential and linear function. Based on the reaction network, the coupled scheme of coke formation and catalyst deactivation were specified for n-heptane catalytic cracking. The dual-model was proposed for the process simulation of n-heptane catalytic cracking over HZSM-5 zeolites. It predicted not only the conversion and product distribution but also coke content with the acceptable errors.

Sustainable catalytic graphitization of biomass to graphitic porous carbon by constructing permeation network with organic ligands

Common strategies for catalytic graphitization of biochar into graphitic porous carbon(GPC)still face great challenges,such as the realization of simple procedures,energy conservation,and green processes.Controlling over the graphitization degree and pore structure of biochar is the key to its structural diversification.Herein,a clean and energy-efficient method is developed to synthesize adjustable graphitic degree and structure porosity GPC from rice husk-based carbon(RHC)at a relatively low temperature of 800–1000°C with environment-benign organometallic catalyst ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid ferric sodium salt(EDTA-iron)and the recovery ratio of catalyst is as high as 97%.The formed by the organic ligands of EDTA-iron facilitates the etching of RHC surface and pore by iron,resulting in highly graphitized and developed porous GPCs.The pore structure and graphitization degree of GPCs can be adjusted by altering the catalyst loading,temperature,and holding time.The catalyst EDTA-iron with a lower concentration mainly plays the role of etching,which promotes the formation of porous carbon with larger surface area(SBET=1187.2 m^(2)·g^(-1)).The catalyst with higher concentration mainly plays the role of catalyzing graphitization and promotes the obtaining of graphitic carbon with high graphitization degree(ID/IG=0.19).The mechanism of EDTA-iron catalyzed graphitization of RHC is explored by the comprehensive analysis of BET,XRD,Raman,TEM and TGA.This research not only provides an efficient method for the preparation of high-quality biomass-based graphite carbon,but also provides a feasible method for the preparation of biomass-based porous carbon.

Structural optimization and performance trade-off strategies for semi-crystalline sulfonated poly(arylene ether ketone) membranes in high-concentration direct methanol fuel cells

Direct methanol fuel cells(DMFCs) have attracted extensive attention as promising next-generation energy conversion devices. However, commercialized proton exchange membranes(PEMs) hardly fulfill the demand of methanol tolerance for DMFCs employing high-concentration methanol solutions.Herein, we report a series of semi-crystalline poly(arylene ether ketone) PEMs with ultra-densely sulfonic-acid-functionalized pendants linked by flexible alkyl chains, namely, SL-SPEK-x(where x represents the molar ratio of the novel monomer containing multiple phenyl side chain to the bisfluoride monomers). The delicate structural design rendered SL-SPEK-x membranes with high crystallinity and well-defined nanoscale phase separation between hydrophilic and hydrophobic phases. The reinforcement from poly(ether ketone) crystals enabled membranes with inhibited dimensional variation and methanol penetration. Furthermore, microphase separation significantly enhanced proton conductivity. The SL-SPEK-12.5 membrane achieved the optimum trade-off between proton conductivity(0.182 S cm^(-1), 80 ℃), water swelling(13.6%, 80 ℃), and methanol permeability(1.6 × 10^(-7)cm~2 s^(-1)). The DMFC assembled by the SL-SPEK-12.5 membrane operated smoothly with a 10 M methanol solution, outputting a maximum power density of 158.3 mW cm^(-2), nearly twice that of Nafion 117(94.2 mW cm^(-2)). Overall, the novel structural optimization strategy provides the possibility of PEMs surviving in high-concentration methanol solutions, thus facilitating the miniaturization and portability of DMFC devices.

Preparation of ZIF-8@PEBAX/PVDF nanocomposite membrane by the combination of self-assembly and in-situ growth for removing thiophene from the model gasoline

Metal-organic frameworks(MOFs)have gained attention in the development of MOFs/polymer hybrid membranes for pervaporation.However,the agglomeration of MOFs particles and interfacial defects limit its further application.In this study,we present a novel approach to fabricate a ZIF-8@PEBAX/PVDF nanocomposite membrane for removing thiophene from the model gasoline by combination of selfassembly and in-situ growth.Firstly,a PVDF supporting membrane was modified to have a negative charge.Next,positively charged zinc ions were attracted onto the negatively charged PVDF supporting membrane through electrostatic interaction.Afterwards,the Zinc ions deposited PVDF membrane was immersed into dimethylimidazole solution to form a uniform ZIF-8 layer.Finally,the ZIF-8 layer was coated with poly(ether-block-amide)(PEBAX)using the pouring method.Experimental results showed that the separating efficiency of the ZIF-8@PEBAX/PVDF nanocomposite membrane was improved significantly compared to that of pristine PEBAX membrane.The optimal permeation flux and enrichment factor of membrane were 27.80 kg(m^(2)h)^(-1)and 6.9,respectively.

Detection Algorithm of Knee Osteoarthritis Based on Magnetic Resonance Images

Knee osteoarthritis(OA)is a common disease that impairs knee function and causes pain.Currently,studies on the detection of knee OA mainly focus on X-ray images,but X-ray images are insensitive to the changes in knee OA in the early stage.Since magnetic resonance(MR)imaging can observe the early features of knee OA,the knee OA detection algorithm based on MR image is innovatively proposed to judge whether knee OA is suffered.Firstly,the knee MR images are preprocessed before training,including a region of interest clipping,slice selection,and data augmentation.Then the data set was divided by patient-level and the knee OA was classified by the deep transfer learning method based on the DenseNet201 model.The method divides the training process into two stages.The first stage freezes all the base layers and only trains the weights of the embedding neural networks.The second stage unfreezes part of the base layers and trains the unfrozen base layers and the weights of the embedding neural network.In this step,we design a block-by-block fine-tuning strategy for training based on the dense blocks,which improves detection accuracy.We have conducted training experiments with different depth modules,and the experimental results show that gradually adding more dense blocks in the fine-tuning can make the model obtain better detection performance than only training the embedded neural network layer.We achieve an accuracy of 0.921,a sensitivity of 0.960,a precision of 0.885,a specificity of 0.891,an F1-Score of 0.912,and an MCC of 0.836.The comparative experimental results on the OAI-ZIB dataset show that the proposed method outperforms the other detection methods with the accuracy of 92.1%.

Nonconvex Noise-Tolerant Neural Model for Repetitive Motion of Omnidirectional Mobile Manipulators

Dear Editor,Quadratic programming problems(QPs)receive a lot of attention in various fields of science computing and engineering applications,such as manipulator control[1].Recursive neural network(RNN)is considered to be a powerful QPs solver due to its parallel processing capability and feasibility of hardware implementation[2].

Amino-functionalized UiO-66-doped mixed matrix membranes with high permeation performance and fouling resistance

For the reduction of bovine serum proteins from wastewater,a novel mixed matrix membrane was prepared by functionalizing the substrate material polyaryletherketone(PAEK),followed by carboxyl groups(C-SPAEKS),and then adding amino-functionalized UiO-66-NH_(2)(Am-UiO-66-NH_(2)).Aminofunctionalization of UiO-66 was accomplished by melamine,followed by an amidation reaction to immobilize Am-UiO-66-NH_(2),which was immobilized on the surface of the membrane as well as in the pore channels,which enhanced the hydrophilicity of the membrane surface while increasing the negative potential of the membrane surface.This nanoparticle-loaded ultrafiltration membrane has good permeation performance,with a pure water flux of up to 482.3 L·m^(-2)·h^(-1) for C-SPAEKS/AmUiO-66-NH_(2) and a retention rate of up to 98.7%for bovine serum albumin(BSA)-contaminated solutions.Meanwhile,after several hydrophilic modifications,the flux recovery of BSA contaminants by this series of membranes increased from 56.2%to 80.55%of pure membranes.The results of ultra-filtration flux time tests performed at room temperature showed that the series of ultrafiltration membranes remained relatively stable over a test time of 300 min.Thus,the newly developed mixed matrix membrane showed potential for high efficiency and stability in wastewater treatment containing bovine serum proteins.

HZSM-5 zeolites undergoing the high-temperature process for boosting the bimolecular reaction in n-heptane catalytic cracking

High-temperature treatment is key to the preparation of zeolite catalysts.Herein,the effects of hightemperature treatment on the property and performance of HZSM-5 zeolites were studied in this work.X-Ray diffraction,N2physisorption,27Al magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance(MAS NMR),and temperature-programmed desorption of ammonia results indicated that the hightemperature treatment at 650℃ hardly affected the inherent crystal and texture of HZSM-5zeolites but facilitated the conversion of framework Al to extra-framework Al,reducing the acid site and enhancing the acid strength.Moreover,the high-temperature treatment improved the performance of HZSM-5 zeolites in n-heptane catalytic cracking,promoting the conversion and light olefins yield while inhibiting coke formation.Based on the kinetic and mechanism analysis,the improvement of HZSM-5 performance caused by high-temperature treatment has been attributed to the formation of extra-framework Al,which enhanced the acid strength,facilitated the bimolecular reaction,and promoted the entropy change to overcome a higher energy barrier in n-heptane catalytic cracking.

An artificial systems,computational experiments and parallel execution-based surface electromyogram-driven anti-disturbance zeroing neurodynamic strategy for upper limb human-robot interaction control

In recent years,intelligent robots are extensively applied in the field of the industry and intelligent rehabilitation,wherein the human-robot interaction(HRI)control strategy is a momentous part that needs to be ameliorated.Specially,the efficacy and robustness of the HRI control algorithm in the presence of unknown external disturbances deserve to be addressed.To deal with these urgent issues,in this study,artificial systems,computational experiments and a parallel execution intelligent control framework are constructed for the HRI control.The upper limb-robotic exoskeleton system is re-modelled as an artificial system.Depending on surface electromyogram-based subject's active motion intention in the practical system,a non-convex function activated anti-disturbance zeroing neurodynamic(NC-ADZND)controller is devised in the artificial system for parallel interaction and HRI control with the practical system.Furthermore,the linear activation function-based zeroing neurodynamic(LAF-ZND)controller and proportionalderivative(posterior deltoid(PD))controller are presented and compared.Theoretical results substantiate the global convergence and robustness of the proposed controller in the presence of different external disturbances.In addition,the simulation results verify that the NC-ADZND controller is better than the LAF-ZND and the PD controllers in respect of convergence order and anti-disturbance characteristics.

Relaxed Stability Criteria for Time-Delay Systems:A Novel Quadratic Function Convex Approximation Approach

This paper develops a quadratic function convex approximation approach to deal with the negative definite problem of the quadratic function induced by stability analysis of linear systems with time-varying delays.By introducing two adjustable parameters and two free variables,a novel convex function greater than or equal to the quadratic function is constructed,regardless of the sign of the coefficient in the quadratic term.The developed lemma can also be degenerated into the existing quadratic function negative-determination(QFND)lemma and relaxed QFND lemma respectively,by setting two adjustable parameters and two free variables as some particular values.Moreover,for a linear system with time-varying delays,a relaxed stability criterion is established via our developed lemma,together with the quivalent reciprocal combination technique and the Bessel-Legendre inequality.As a result,the conservatism can be reduced via the proposed approach in the context of constructing Lyapunov-Krasovskii functionals for the stability analysis of linear time-varying delay systems.Finally,the superiority of our results is illustrated through three numerical examples.

Effect of current density on corrosion resistance of micro-arc oxide coatings on magnesium alloy

Oxide coatings were prepared on magnesium alloys in electrolyte solution of Na2SiO3 at different current densities(3,4 and 5 A/cm 2 )with micro-arc oxidation process.X-ray diffractometry(XRD)results show that the oxide coatings formed on magnesium alloys are mainly composed of MgO and MgAl2O4 phases;in addition,the content of MgO increases with increasing the current density.The morphology and surface roughness of the coatings were characterized by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM).The results show that the surface roughness(Ra)decreases with increasing the current density.Moreover,the electrochemical corrosion results prove that the MgO coating produced in the electrolyte Na2SiO3 at current density of 5 A/cm 2 shows the best corrosion resistance.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of die-cast AZ91D magnesium alloy by Pr additions

Mg-9Al-xPr(x=0.4,0.8 and 1.2,mass fraction,%)magnesium alloys were prepared by high-pressure die-casting technique.The effects of Pr on the microstructures of die-cast Mg-9Al based alloy were investigated by XRD and SEM.Needle-like Al11Pr3 phase and polygon Al6Mn6Pr phase are found in the microstructure.With 0.4%Pr addition,fine needle-like Al11Pr3 phase and a small amount of polygon Al6Mn6Pr phase near the grain boundary are found in the microstructure.Increasing Pr addition to 0.8%, lots of coarse needle-like Al11Pr3 phase within grain and polygon Al6Mn6Pr phase on grain boundary are observed.Further increasing Pr addition,the size of needle-like Al11Pr3 phase decreases,while the size of polygon Al6Mn6Pr relatively increases.The mass fraction of Pr at around 0.8%is considered to be suitable to obtain the optimal mechanical properties.The optimal mechanical properties are mainly resulted from grain boundary strengthening obtained by precipitates and solid solution.

Experimental Study of Machinability in Millgrinding of SiCp/Al Composites

An attempt was made to investigate the machinability of Si Cp/Al composites based on the experimental study using mill-grinding processing method. The experiments were carried out on a high-speed CNC machining center using integrated abrasive cutting tool. The effects of combined machining parameters, e g, cutting speed(vs), feed rate(vf), and depth of cut(ap), with the same change of material removal rate(MRR) on the mill-grinding force and surface roughness(Ra) were investigated. The formation mechanism of typical machined surface defects was analyzed by SEM. The experimental results reveal that with the same change of material removal rate, lower mill-grinding force values can be gained by increasing depth of cut and feed rate simultaneously at higher cutting speed. With the same change of MRR value, lower surface roughness values can be gained by increasing the feed rate at higher cutting speed, rather than just increasing the depth of cut, or increasing the feed rate and depth of cut simultaneously. The machined surface of Si Cp/Al composites reveals typical defects which can influence surface integrity.

Crystal Growth and Spectral Properties of Yb^(3+)∶KY(WO_4)_2

Laser crystal Yb∶KYW was grown by the Kyropoulos method. A grown crystal was identified as β-Yb∶KYW by XRD. By TG-DTA the melting point and transition point of the crystal are 1045 and 1010 ℃, respectively. Infrared spectrum and Raman spectrum were measured, and the vibrational frequencies of infrared and Raman active modes for Yb∶KYW crystal were assigned. Absorption spectrum of Yb∶KYW shows that there are two intensive absorption peaks at 940 and 980 nm, respectively, and the absorption cross section is 1.34×10 -19 cm2 at chief peak of 980 nm. There exist three intensive emission peaks in Yb∶KYW at 990, 1010 and 1030 nm, respectively, and the emission line width of the chief peak 1030 nm runs up to 16 nm. It was calculated that the peak emission cross section is 3.1×10 -20 cm2 at 1030 nm.

Removal of 5-Amino-2-chlorotoluene-4-sulfonic and Chlorhydric Acids from Wastewater by Weakly Basic Resin

This research deals with an investigation of the adsorption of two acids, namely, 5-amino- 2-chlorotoluene-4-sulfonic and chlorhydric acids from their solution onto weakly basic resin. The screening of res-ins, kinetics, and isotherm were studied. The results indicate that the D301R is more appropriate for the removal of acids from solution. The adsorption of acids obeys Langmuir isotherm and the first-order kinetics model. Sorptive affinity of the two acids on D301R was found to be in the order of 5-amino-2-chlorotoluene-4-sulfonic acid> chlorhydric acid. Thermodynamic parameters for the adsorption of acids were calculated and discussed. The maxi-mum removal of acids was observed around 97% and 76% at 25℃ for 5-amino-2-chlorotoluene-4-sulfonic acid and chlorhydric acid , respectively.

Microstructure and mechanical/conductivity properties of pure copper joint welded by friction stir welding

Copper plates with 3 mm thickness were friction stir welded at a rotation rate of 800 r/min and different welding velocity.The effects of microstructure and the mechanical/conductivity properties of the FSW joints were studied.The results indicate that the grain sizes of nugget zones are 2.49,2.13 and 5.07μm for welding speed of 100,150 and 200 mm/min,respectively.Furthermore,lower density of dislocation was obtained in the nugget zone.Under the welding speed of 200 mm/min,annealing twins had been observed.When the speed is 150 mm/min,the tensile strength of the stir welded joint is 264 MPa that can reach 98%of the base metal.The mechanical properties of the joints with the welding speed of both 100 mm/min and 200 mm/min are lower than the base metal.The corrosion resistance of weld is higher than that of base metal.Electrical resistivity measurement shows no obvious change in the welded joints compared to the base metal at the room temperature.

Signal Detection of Carbon in Iron-Based Alloy by Double-Pulse Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy

Although single-pulse lasers are often used in traditional laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy(LIBS) measurements, their measurement outcomes are generally undesirable because of the low sensitivity of carbon in iron-based alloys. In this article, a double-pulse laser was applied to improve the signal intensity of carbon. Both the inter-pulse delay and the combination of laser wavelengths in double-pulse laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy(DP-LIBS) were optimized in our experiment. At the optimized inter-pulse delay, the combination of a first laser of 532 nm and a second laser of 1,064 nm achieved the highest signal enhancement. The properties of the target also played a role in determining the mass ablation enhancement in DP-LIBS configuration.

Effects of postweld aging on the microstructure and properties of bobbin tool friction stir-welded 6082-T6 aluminum alloy

Samples of 6082-T6 aluminum alloy were subjected to bobbin tool friction stir welding (BT-FSW), and the joints were treated by postweld natural aging (PWNA) and postweld artificial aging (PWAA). The microstructure, microhardness, and tensile properties of the aged and as-welded specimens were investigated. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations revealed that a large number of Guinier–Preston (GP) zones precipitated in the form of a network on the stir zone (SZ) after PWNA for 60 d, and a large number of β'' phases precipitated in the matrix for after PWAA for 6 h. As the aging time increased, the microhardness of the SZ and the thermomechanically affected zone (TMAZ) increased significantly, and the hardness of the SZ after PWAA for 6 h was close to that of the base metal (BM). With increasing PWNA time, the strength and strain increased slightly. When the PWAA time increased, the strength clearly increased, with a maximum value of 279.9 MPa after 6 h, while the strain decreased.