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Sample records for robust tlp sites

  1. Analysis of the grape (Vitis vinifera L.) thaumatin-like protein (TLP) gene family and demonstration that TLP29 contributes to disease resistance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yan, Xiaoxiao; Qiao, Hengbo; Zhang, Xiuming; Guo, Chunlei; Wang, Mengnan; Wang, Yuejin; Wang, Xiping

    2017-06-27

    Thaumatin-like protein (TLP) is present as a large family in plants, and individual members play different roles in various responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. Here we studied the role of 33 putative grape (Vitis vinifera L.) TLP genes (VvTLP) in grape disease resistance. Heat maps analysis compared the expression profiles of 33 genes in disease resistant and susceptible grape species infected with anthracnose (Elsinoe ampelina), powdery mildew (Erysiphe necator) or Botrytis cinerea. Among these 33 genes, the expression level of TLP29 increased following the three pathogens inoculations, and its homolog from the disease resistant Chinese wild grape V. quinquangularis cv. 'Shang-24', was focused for functional studies. Over-expression of TLP29 from grape 'Shang-24' (VqTLP29) in Arabidopsis thaliana enhanced its resistance to powdery mildew and the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000, but decreased resistance to B. cinerea. Moreover, the stomatal closure immunity response to pathogen associated molecular patterns was strengthened in the transgenic lines. A comparison of the expression profiles of various resistance-related genes after infection with different pathogens indicated that VqTLP29 may be involved in the salicylic acid and jasmonic acid/ethylene signaling pathways.

  2. Preliminary Design of a Multi-Column TLP Foundation for a 5-MW Offshore Wind Turbine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yanping He

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Currently, floating wind turbines (FWTs may be the more economical and suitable systems with which to exploit offshore wind energy in deep waters. Among the various types of floating foundations for offshore wind farms, a tension leg platform (TLP foundation can provide a relatively stable platform for currently available offshore wind turbines without requiring major modifications. In this study, a new multi-column TLP foundation (WindStar TLP was developed for the NREL 5-MW offshore wind turbine according to site-specific environmental conditions, which are the same as the OC3-Hywind (NREL conditions. The general arrangement, main structure and mooring system were also designed and investigated through hydrodynamic and natural frequency analyses. The complete system avoids resonance through the rotor excitations. An aero-hydro-servo-elastic coupled analysis was carried out in the time domain with the numerical tool FAST. Statistics of the key parameters were obtained and analysed and comparisons to MIT/NREL TLP are made. As a result, the design requirements were shown to be satisfied, and the proposed WindStar TLP was shown to have favourable motion characteristics under extreme wind and wave conditions with a lighter and smaller structure. The new concept holds great potential for further development.

  3. tlpA gene expression is required for arginine and bicarbonate chemotaxis in Helicobacter pylori.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cerda, Oscar A; Núñez-Villena, Felipe; Soto, Sarita E; Ugalde, José Manuel; López-Solís, Remigio; Toledo, Héctor

    2011-01-01

    About half of the human population is infected with Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium causing gastritis, peptic ulcer and progression to gastric cancer. Chemotaxis and flagellar motility are required for colonization and persistence of H. pylori in the gastric mucus layer. It is not completely clear which chemical gradients are used by H. pylori to maintain its position. TlpA, a chemotaxis receptor for arginine/ bicarbonate, has been identified. This study aimed to find out whether tlpA gene expression is required for the chemotactic response to arginine/bicarbonate. Wild-type motile H. pylori ATCC 700392 and H. pylori ATCC 43504, a strain having an interrupted tlpA gene, were used. Also, a tlpA-knockout mutant of H. pylori 700392 (H. pylori 700-tlpA::cat) was produced by homologous recombination. Expression of tlpA was assessed by a Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) assay. Chemotaxis was measured as a Relative Chemotaxis Response (RCR) by a modified capillary assay. H. pylori 700392 presented chemotaxis to arginine and sodium bicarbonate. H. pylori 700-tlpA::cat showed neither tlpA gene expression nor chemotaxis towards arginine and bicarbonate. Besides confirming that TlpA is a chemotactic receptor for arginine/bicarbonate in H. pylori, this study showed that tlpA gene expression is required for arginine/bicarbonate chemotaxis.

  4. tlpA gene expression is required for arginine and bicarbonate chemotaxis in Helicobacter pylori

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oscar A Cerda

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available About half of the human population is infected with Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium causing gastritis, peptic ulcer and progression to gastric cancer. Chemotaxis and flagellar motility are required for colonization and persistence of H. pylori in the gastric mucus layer. It is not completely clear which chemical gradients are used by H. pylori to maintain its position. TlpA, a chemotaxis receptor for arginine/ bicarbonate, has been identified. This study aimed to find out whether tlpA gene expression is required for the chemotactic response to arginine/bicarbonate. Wild-type motile H. pylori ATCC 700392 and H. pylori ATCC 43504, a strain having an interrupted tlpA gene, were used. Also, a tlpA-knockout mutant of H. pylori 700392 (H. pylori 700-tlpA::cat was produced by homologous recombination. Expression of tlpA was assessed by a Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR assay. Chemotaxis was measured as a Relative Chemotaxis Response (RCR by a modified capillary assay. H. pylori 700392 presented chemotaxis to arginine and sodium bicarbonate. H. pylori 700-tlpA::cat showed neither tlpA gene expression nor chemotaxis towards arginine and bicarbonate. Besides confirming that TlpA is a chemotactic receptor for arginine/bicarbonate in H. pylori, this study showed that tlpA gene expression is required for arginine/bicarbonate chemotaxis.

  5. Characterization and Gene Cloning of an Acidic Thaumatin-Like Protein (TLP 1, an Allergen from Sapodilla Fruit (Manilkara zapota

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    Hassan G Ashok Kumar

    2013-01-01

    Conclusions: An acidic TLP (TLP 1 was identified as a new allergen in sapodilla. TLP 1 is a single polypeptide (207 residues belonging to the thaumatin family of the GH64-TLP-SF superfamily. Clinically, sapodilla should be considered in the list of fruits causing OAS.

  6. Preliminary Design of a Multi-Column TLP Foundation for a 5-MW Offshore Wind Turbine

    OpenAIRE

    Yongsheng Zhao; Jianmin Yang; Yanping He

    2012-01-01

    Currently, floating wind turbines (FWTs) may be the more economical and suitable systems with which to exploit offshore wind energy in deep waters. Among the various types of floating foundations for offshore wind farms, a tension leg platform (TLP) foundation can provide a relatively stable platform for currently available offshore wind turbines without requiring major modifications. In this study, a new multi-column TLP foundation (WindStar TLP) was developed for the NREL 5-MW offshore wind...

  7. Overexpression of CaTLP1, a putative transcription factor in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), promotes stress tolerance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wardhan, Vijay; Jahan, Kishwer; Gupta, Sonika; Chennareddy, Srinivasarao; Datta, Asis; Chakraborty, Subhra; Chakraborty, Niranjan

    2012-07-01

    Dehydration is the most crucial environmental constraint on plant growth and development, and agricultural productivity. To understand the underlying mechanism of stress tolerance, and to identify proteins for improving such important trait, we screened the dehydration-responsive proteome of chickpea and identified a tubby-like protein, referred to as CaTLP1. The CaTLP1 was found to predominantly bind to double-stranded DNA but incapable of transcriptional activation. We investigated the gene structure and organization and demonstrated, for the first time, that CaTLP1 may be involved in osmotic stress response in plants. The transcripts are strongly expressed in vegetative tissues but weakly in reproductive tissues. CaTLP1 is upregulated by dehydration and high salinity, and by treatment with abscisic acid (ABA), suggesting that its stress-responsive function might be associated with ABA-dependent network. Overexpression of CaTLP1 in transgenic tobacco plants conferred dehydration, salinity and oxidative stress tolerance along with improved shoot and root architecture. Molecular genetic analysis showed differential expression of CaTLP1 under normal and stress condition, and its preferential expression in the nucleus might be associated with enhanced stress tolerance. Our work suggests important roles of CaTLP1 in stress response as well as in the regulation of plant development.

  8. Purification and characterization of a CkTLP protein from Cynanchum komarovii seeds that confers antifungal activity.

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    Qinghua Wang

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Cynanchum komarovii Al Iljinski is a desert plant that has been used as analgesic, anthelminthic and antidiarrheal, but also as a herbal medicine to treat cholecystitis in people. We have found that the protein extractions from C. komarovii seeds have strong antifungal activity. There is strong interest to develop protein medication and antifungal pesticides from C. komarovii for pharmacological or other uses. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: An antifungal protein with sequence homology to thaumatin-like proteins (TLPs was isolated from C. komarovii seeds and named CkTLP. The three-dimensional structure prediction of CkTLP indicated the protein has an acid cleft and a hydrophobic patch. The protein showed antifungal activity against fungal growth of Verticillium dahliae, Fusarium oxysporum, Rhizoctonia solani, Botrytis cinerea and Valsa mali. The full-length cDNA was cloned by RT-PCR and RACE-PCR according to the partial protein sequences obtained by nanoESI-MS/MS. The real-time PCR showed the transcription level of CkTLP had a significant increase under the stress of abscisic acid (ABA, salicylic acid (SA, methyl jasmonate (MeJA, NaCl and drought, which indicates that CkTLP may play an important role in response to abiotic stresses. Histochemical staining showed GUS activity in almost the whole plant, especially in cotyledons, trichomes and vascular tissues of primary root and inflorescences. The CkTLP protein was located in the extracellular space/cell wall by CkTLP::GFP fusion protein in transgenic Arabidopsis. Furthermore, over-expression of CkTLP significantly enhanced the resistance of Arabidopsis against V. dahliae. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The results suggest that the CkTLP is a good candidate protein or gene for contributing to the development of disease-resistant crops.

  9. Azorhizobium caulinodans Transmembrane Chemoreceptor TlpA1 Involved in Host Colonization and Nodulation on Roots and Stems

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    Wei Liu

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Azorhizobium caulinodans ORS571 is a motile soil bacterium that interacts symbiotically with legume host Sesbania rostrata, forming nitrogen-fixing root and stem nodules. Bacterial chemotaxis plays an important role in establishing this symbiotic relationship. To determine the contribution of chemotaxis to symbiosis in A. caulinodans ORS571-S. rostrata, we characterized the function of TlpA1 (transducer-like protein in A. caulinodans, a chemoreceptor predicted by SMART (Simple Modular Architecture Research Tool, containing two N-terminal transmembrane regions. The tlpA1 gene is located immediately upstream of the unique che gene cluster and is transcriptionally co-oriented. We found that a ΔtlpA1 mutant is severely impaired for chemotaxis to various organic acids, glycerol and proline. Furthermore, biofilm forming ability of the strain carrying the mutation is reduced under certain growth conditions. Interestingly, competitive colonization ability on S. rostrata root surfaces is impaired in the ΔtlpA1 mutant, suggesting that chemotaxis of the A. caulinodans ORS571 contributes to root colonization. We also found that TlpA1 promotes competitive nodulation not only on roots but also on stems of S. rostrata. Taken together, our data strongly suggest that TlpA1 is a transmembrane chemoreceptor involved in A. caulinodans-S. rostrata symbiosis.

  10. Characterization analysis of UDSM LVTSCR under TLP stress

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li Li; Liu Hongxia; Zhou Wen; Dong Cui

    2011-01-01

    The characteristics of a low-voltage triggering silicon-controlled rectifier (LVTSCR) under a transmission line pulse (TLP) and the characteristics of high frequency are analyzed. The research results show that the anode series resistance has a significant effect on the key points of the snapback curve. The device characteristics can fit the requirements of a electrostatic discharge (ESD) design window by adjusting the anode series resistance. Furthermore, the set-up time of the ESD has an influence on the turn-on voltage of the LVTSCR. A steep rising edge will cause the turn-on voltage to increase. The parasitic capacitance of the device for different voltage biases and frequencies determines the capacitive impedance, and its accuracy calculation is very important to the ESD design of high frequency circuits. Our research results provide a theoretical basis for the design of an ultra-deep sub-micron (UDSM) LVTSCR structure under ESD stress and the improvement of TLP test technology. (semiconductor devices)

  11. Characterization analysis of UDSM LVTSCR under TLP stress

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Li Li; Liu Hongxia; Zhou Wen [Key Laboratory for Wide Band Gap Semiconductor Materials and Devices of Ministry of Education, School of Microelectronics, Xidian University, Xi' an 710071 (China); Dong Cui, E-mail: 332808552@qq.com [School of Science, Xidian University, Xi' an 710071 (China)

    2011-05-15

    The characteristics of a low-voltage triggering silicon-controlled rectifier (LVTSCR) under a transmission line pulse (TLP) and the characteristics of high frequency are analyzed. The research results show that the anode series resistance has a significant effect on the key points of the snapback curve. The device characteristics can fit the requirements of a electrostatic discharge (ESD) design window by adjusting the anode series resistance. Furthermore, the set-up time of the ESD has an influence on the turn-on voltage of the LVTSCR. A steep rising edge will cause the turn-on voltage to increase. The parasitic capacitance of the device for different voltage biases and frequencies determines the capacitive impedance, and its accuracy calculation is very important to the ESD design of high frequency circuits. Our research results provide a theoretical basis for the design of an ultra-deep sub-micron (UDSM) LVTSCR structure under ESD stress and the improvement of TLP test technology. (semiconductor devices)

  12. Characterization of a pathogen induced thaumatin-like protein gene AdTLP from Arachis diogoi, a wild peanut.

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    Naveen Kumar Singh

    Full Text Available Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L is one of the widely cultivated and leading oilseed crops of the world and its yields are greatly affected by various biotic and abiotic stresses. Arachis diogoi, a wild relative of peanut, is an important source of genes for resistance against various stresses that affect peanut. In our previous study a thaumatin-like protein gene was found to be upregulated in a differential expression reverse transcription PCR (DDRT-PCR study using the conidial spray of the late leaf spot pathogen, Phaeoisariopsis personata. In the present study, the corresponding full length cDNA was cloned using RACE-PCR and has been designated as AdTLP. It carried an open reading frame of 726 bp potentially capable of encoding a polypeptide of 241 amino acids with 16 conserved cysteine residues. The semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis showed that the transcript level of AdTLP increased upon treatment with the late leaf spot pathogen of peanut, P. personata and various hormone treatments indicating its involvement in both, biotic and abiotic stresses. The antifungal activity of the purified recombinant protein was checked against different fungal pathogens, which showed enhanced anti-fungal activity compared to many other reported TLP proteins. The recombinant AdTLP-GFP fusion protein was found to be predominantly localized to extracellular spaces. Transgenic tobacco plants ectopically expressing AdTLP showed enhanced resistance to fungal pathogen, Rhizoctonia solani. The seedling assays showed enhanced tolerance of AdTLP transgenic plants against salt and oxidative stress. The transcript analysis of various defense related genes highlighted constitutively higher level expression of PR1a, PI-I and PI-II genes in transgenic plants. These results suggest that the AdTLP is a good candidate gene for enhancing stress resistance in crop plants.

  13. EVALUACIÓN DE LAS FUNCIONES EJECUTIVAS, INTELIGENCIA E IMPULSIVIDAD EN PACIENTES CON TRASTORNO LÍMITE DE LA PERSONALIDAD (TLP

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    Maura Jazmín Ramírez

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available Las funciones neurocognitivas básicas como el control ejecutivo cognoscitivo representan un endofenotipo prometedor que puede mejorar el entendimiento del desarrollo y la expresión del TLP. Evaluamos la asociación entre el funcionamiento en una Batería de Funciones Ejecutivas y el TLP. Se estudió a 10 mujeres diagnosticadas con TLP a quienes por separado se les administró esta batería y fueron comparadas con un grupo control no clínico que constó de 10 sujetos. El desempeño en los participantes con TLP fue menor en la batería de Función Ejecutiva (U=18, p=0,015 y fueron más impulsivo que el grupo de control (U=21, p=0,28; por otra parte no hubo diferencias entre ambos grupos sobre la inteligencia (U=28, p=0,096. Los pacientes con TLP demostraron impedimentos significativos en la prueba de toma de decisiones y planeación lo que puede sugerir la disfunción del lóbulo frontal.

  14. Evaluación de las funciones ejecutivas, inteligencia e impulsividad en mujeres con trastorno límite de la personalidad (TLP

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    Aurora Marina Piñeiro Barrera

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Las funciones neurocognitivas básicas como el control ejecutivo cognoscitivo representan un endofenotipo prometedor que puede mejorar el entendimiento del desarrollo y la expresión del TLP. Evaluamos la asociación entre el funcionamiento en una Batería de Funciones Ejecutivas y el TLP. Se estudió a 10 mujeres diagnosticadas con TLP a quienes por separado se les administró esta batería y fueron comparadas con un grupo control no clínico que constó de 10 sujetos. El desempeño en los participantes con TLP fue menoren la batería de Función Ejecutiva (U=18, p=0,015 y fueron más impulsivo que el grupo de control (U=21, p=0,28; por otra parte no hubo diferencias entre ambos grupos sobre la inteligencia (U=28, p=0,096. Los pacientes con TLP demostraron impedimentos significativos en la prueba de toma de decisiones y planeación lo que puede sugerir la disfunción del lóbulo frontal.

  15. 1000 meters water depth rigid TLP riser; Riser rigido de plataforma de pernas atirantadas para lamina d'agua de 1000 metros

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Braga, Mauro Jacinto Pastor

    1990-07-01

    A procedure to estimate the fatigue life of a TLP riser in 1000 meters water depth based on a hydro-elastic analysis of an integrated riser-TLP model in the time domain is presented . The computational architecture is shown that makes it feasible to process and store the great amount of data involved. The procedure is applied to a 1000 meters water depth TLP with a set of 40 risers 8 inches in diameter equipped with a floatation layer. (author)

  16. TRANSIENT LUNAR PHENOMENA: REGULARITY AND REALITY

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Crotts, Arlin P. S.

    2009-01-01

    Transient lunar phenomena (TLPs) have been reported for centuries, but their nature is largely unsettled, and even their existence as a coherent phenomenon is controversial. Nonetheless, TLP data show regularities in the observations; a key question is whether this structure is imposed by processes tied to the lunar surface, or by terrestrial atmospheric or human observer effects. I interrogate an extensive catalog of TLPs to gauge how human factors determine the distribution of TLP reports. The sample is grouped according to variables which should produce differing results if determining factors involve humans, and not reflecting phenomena tied to the lunar surface. Features dependent on human factors can then be excluded. Regardless of how the sample is split, the results are similar: ∼50% of reports originate from near Aristarchus, ∼16% from Plato, ∼6% from recent, major impacts (Copernicus, Kepler, Tycho, and Aristarchus), plus several at Grimaldi. Mare Crisium produces a robust signal in some cases (however, Crisium is too large for a 'feature' as defined). TLP count consistency for these features indicates that ∼80% of these may be real. Some commonly reported sites disappear from the robust averages, including Alphonsus, Ross D, and Gassendi. These reports begin almost exclusively after 1955, when TLPs became widely known and many more (and inexperienced) observers searched for TLPs. In a companion paper, we compare the spatial distribution of robust TLP sites to transient outgassing (seen by Apollo and Lunar Prospector instruments). To a high confidence, robust TLP sites and those of lunar outgassing correlate strongly, further arguing for the reality of TLPs.

  17. Expression of TLP-3 gene without signal peptide in tobacco plants ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Expression of TLP-3 gene without signal peptide in tobacco plants using Agrobacterium mediated transformation. ... Plants are exploited as a source of food by a wide range of parasites, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, nematodes, insects and even other plants. So paying attention to their protection is very important.

  18. Effect of transient liquid phase (TLP) bonding on the ductility of a Ni-base single crystal superalloy in a stress rupture test

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu, J.D.; Jin, T.; Zhao, N.R.; Wang, Z.H.; Sun, X.F.; Guan, H.R.; Hu, Z.Q.

    2008-01-01

    A Ni-base single crystal superalloy was transient liquid phase (TLP) bonded using a Ni-Cr-B amorphous foil at 1230 deg. C for 8 h. Stress rupture tests of the TLP joint and a matrix sample were carried out at 982 deg. C/248 MPa and 1010 deg. C/248 MPa. The microstructures and fracture surfaces were studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) investigations were performed after creep rupture testing to examine the deformation substructures. The results show that the stress rupture ductility of TLP joints is significantly decreased compared to the matrix sample. This reduction of the ductility of TLP joints can be attributed to solid solution strengthening by boron atoms, subgrain boundaries formed in the bonding zone and the concentration of creep cavities formed during the last stage of the stress rupture test

  19. TLP Structural Health Monitoring Based on Vibration Signal of Energy Harvesting System

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    Vahid Jahangiri

    Full Text Available Abstract Structural Health Monitoring (SHM of Tension Leg Platform (TLP is very crucial for preventing catastrophic and sudden collapse of the structures. One of the methods of monitoring these structures is implementing SHM sensors. Supplying energy for these sensors for a long period is a challenging problem. So, one of the new methods of supplying energy for SHM, is usage of mechanical energy. In this method, the piezoelectric material is employed to convert the mechanical energy which is resulted from vibration of structure, to electrical energy. The advantage of this method is based on not implementing the battery charging system. Therefore, in this paper, after modeling TLP structure, energy supplying of these sensors with piezoelectric converters is studied. Furthermore, fault diagnosis of these structures in the presence of different uncertainties is proposed by the features of voltage signal, produced from piezoelectric patches and fuzzy classification method. Results show that this method can diagnose faults of the structure with an acceptable success rate.

  20. Transient effects of tendon disconnection on the survivability of a TLP in moderate-strength hurricane conditions

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    Moo Hyun Kim

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available The primary objective of this paper is to investigate the dynamic stability and survivability of a four-column classic TLP (tension-leg platform under less-than-extreme storm conditions where one or more tendons have been lost due to damage or disconnect. The transient responses of the platform and tendon tensions at the moment of disconnection are particularly underscored. The numerical simulation is based on the BE-FE hybrid hull-tendon-riser coupled dynamic analysis in time domain. Compared to the common industry practice of checking the system without a failed tendon in the beginning, the maximum tension on the neighboring tendon can be significantly increased at the moment of disconnection due to the snap-like transient effects, which can lead to unexpected failure of the total system. It is also found that the transient effects can be reduced with the presence of TTRs (top-tensioned risers with pneumatic tensioners. It is also seen that the TLP cannot survive in the 100-yr hurricane condition after losing one tendon.

  1. Structural studies of a bacterial tRNA(HIS guanylyltransferase (Thg1-like protein, with nucleotide in the activation and nucleotidyl transfer sites.

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    Samantha J Hyde

    Full Text Available All nucleotide polymerases and transferases catalyze nucleotide addition in a 5' to 3' direction. In contrast, tRNA(His guanylyltransferase (Thg1 enzymes catalyze the unusual reverse addition (3' to 5' of nucleotides to polynucleotide substrates. In eukaryotes, Thg1 enzymes use the 3'-5' addition activity to add G-1 to the 5'-end of tRNA(His, a modification required for efficient aminoacylation of the tRNA by the histidyl-tRNA synthetase. Thg1-like proteins (TLPs are found in Archaea, Bacteria, and mitochondria and are biochemically distinct from their eukaryotic Thg1 counterparts TLPs catalyze 5'-end repair of truncated tRNAs and act on a broad range of tRNA substrates instead of exhibiting strict specificity for tRNA(His. Taken together, these data suggest that TLPs function in distinct biological pathways from the tRNA(His maturation pathway, perhaps in tRNA quality control. Here we present the first crystal structure of a TLP, from the gram-positive soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (BtTLP. The enzyme is a tetramer like human THG1, with which it shares substantial structural similarity. Catalysis of the 3'-5' reaction with 5'-monophosphorylated tRNA necessitates first an activation step, generating a 5'-adenylylated intermediate prior to a second nucleotidyl transfer step, in which a nucleotide is transferred to the tRNA 5'-end. Consistent with earlier characterization of human THG1, we observed distinct binding sites for the nucleotides involved in these two steps of activation and nucleotidyl transfer. A BtTLP complex with GTP reveals new interactions with the GTP nucleotide in the activation site that were not evident from the previously solved structure. Moreover, the BtTLP-ATP structure allows direct observation of ATP in the activation site for the first time. The BtTLP structural data, combined with kinetic analysis of selected variants, provide new insight into the role of key residues in the activation step.

  2. Solidification and solid state phenomena during TLP bonding of IN718 superalloy using Ni–Si–B ternary filler alloy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pouranvari, M., E-mail: mpouranvari@yahoo.com [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran 11365-11155 (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Ekrami, A.; Kokabi, A.H. [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran 11365-11155 (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

    2013-06-25

    Highlights: ► Microstructure evolution during TLP bonding of IN718 using Ni–Si–B filler. ► Athermal solidification path is influenced by severe segregation of B and Si in residual liquid. ► High hardness of ASZ microconstituents necessitates designing a PBHT to avert brittleness. ► Diffusion induced Cr–Mo–Nb based boride precipitation was observed in DAZ. ► Boride precipitates in DAZ influence the corrosion resistance and aging behavior. -- Abstract: This paper addresses solidification and solid state precipitation phenomena during transient liquid phase (TLP) bonding of wrought IN718 nickel base superalloy using Ni–4.5Si–3.2B (wt.%) ternary filler alloy. The solidification sequence of the residual liquid in the joint centerline was found to be (1) formation of proeutectic γ, followed by (2) γ/Ni{sub 3}B eutectic reaction, followed by (3) ternary eutectic of γ/Ni{sub 3}B/Ni{sub 6}Si{sub 2}B. Extensive fine Ni{sub 3}Si formed within the eutectic-γ via solid state precipitation during cooling. Extensive Cr–Mo–Nb rich boride precipitates were formed in the substrate region due to boron diffusion into the base metal during bonding process. The implications of the phase transformations on the mechanical properties, corrosion resistance and aging behavior of the joint, which are pertinent to the development of an optimum post bond heat treatment, are highlighted.

  3. Solidification and solid state phenomena during TLP bonding of IN718 superalloy using Ni–Si–B ternary filler alloy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pouranvari, M.; Ekrami, A.; Kokabi, A.H.

    2013-01-01

    Highlights: ► Microstructure evolution during TLP bonding of IN718 using Ni–Si–B filler. ► Athermal solidification path is influenced by severe segregation of B and Si in residual liquid. ► High hardness of ASZ microconstituents necessitates designing a PBHT to avert brittleness. ► Diffusion induced Cr–Mo–Nb based boride precipitation was observed in DAZ. ► Boride precipitates in DAZ influence the corrosion resistance and aging behavior. -- Abstract: This paper addresses solidification and solid state precipitation phenomena during transient liquid phase (TLP) bonding of wrought IN718 nickel base superalloy using Ni–4.5Si–3.2B (wt.%) ternary filler alloy. The solidification sequence of the residual liquid in the joint centerline was found to be (1) formation of proeutectic γ, followed by (2) γ/Ni 3 B eutectic reaction, followed by (3) ternary eutectic of γ/Ni 3 B/Ni 6 Si 2 B. Extensive fine Ni 3 Si formed within the eutectic-γ via solid state precipitation during cooling. Extensive Cr–Mo–Nb rich boride precipitates were formed in the substrate region due to boron diffusion into the base metal during bonding process. The implications of the phase transformations on the mechanical properties, corrosion resistance and aging behavior of the joint, which are pertinent to the development of an optimum post bond heat treatment, are highlighted

  4. Robust Segmentation of Planar and Linear Features of Terrestrial Laser Scanner Point Clouds Acquired from Construction Sites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maalek, Reza; Lichti, Derek D; Ruwanpura, Janaka Y

    2018-01-01

    Automated segmentation of planar and linear features of point clouds acquired from construction sites is essential for the automatic extraction of building construction elements such as columns, beams and slabs. However, many planar and linear segmentation methods use scene-dependent similarity thresholds that may not provide generalizable solutions for all environments. In addition, outliers exist in construction site point clouds due to data artefacts caused by moving objects, occlusions and dust. To address these concerns, a novel method for robust classification and segmentation of planar and linear features is proposed. First, coplanar and collinear points are classified through a robust principal components analysis procedure. The classified points are then grouped using a new robust clustering method, the robust complete linkage method. A robust method is also proposed to extract the points of flat-slab floors and/or ceilings independent of the aforementioned stages to improve computational efficiency. The applicability of the proposed method is evaluated in eight datasets acquired from a complex laboratory environment and two construction sites at the University of Calgary. The precision, recall, and accuracy of the segmentation at both construction sites were 96.8%, 97.7% and 95%, respectively. These results demonstrate the suitability of the proposed method for robust segmentation of planar and linear features of contaminated datasets, such as those collected from construction sites. PMID:29518062

  5. Rendering one autolysis site in Bacillus subtilis neutral protease resistant to cleavage reveals a new fission

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Van den Burg, B; Eijsink, VGH; Vriend, G; Veltman, OR; Venema, G

    Autolytic degradation of the thermolysin-like proteinase of Bacillus subtilis (TLP-sub) is responsible for the irreversible inactivation of the enzyme at elevated temperatures. Previously we have reported five cleavage sites in Tip-sub [Van den Burg et al, (1990) Biochem. J. 272, 93-97]. In an

  6. Estimating open population site occupancy from presence-absence data lacking the robust design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dail, D; Madsen, L

    2013-03-01

    Many animal monitoring studies seek to estimate the proportion of a study area occupied by a target population. The study area is divided into spatially distinct sites where the detected presence or absence of the population is recorded, and this is repeated in time for multiple seasons. However, when occupied sites are detected with probability p Ecology 84, 2200-2207) developed a multiseason model for estimating seasonal site occupancy (ψt ) while accounting for unknown p. Their model performs well when observations are collected according to the robust design, where multiple sampling occasions occur during each season; the repeated sampling aids in the estimation p. However, their model does not perform as well when the robust design is lacking. In this paper, we propose an alternative likelihood model that yields improved seasonal estimates of p and Ψt in the absence of the robust design. We construct the marginal likelihood of the observed data by conditioning on, and summing out, the latent number of occupied sites during each season. A simulation study shows that in cases without the robust design, the proposed model estimates p with less bias than the MacKenzie et al. model and hence improves the estimates of Ψt . We apply both models to a data set consisting of repeated presence-absence observations of American robins (Turdus migratorius) with yearly survey periods. The two models are compared to a third estimator available when the repeated counts (from the same study) are considered, with the proposed model yielding estimates of Ψt closest to estimates from the point count model. Copyright © 2013, The International Biometric Society.

  7. Robust multi-site MR data processing: iterative optimization of bias correction, tissue classification, and registration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Young Kim, Eun; Johnson, Hans J

    2013-01-01

    A robust multi-modal tool, for automated registration, bias correction, and tissue classification, has been implemented for large-scale heterogeneous multi-site longitudinal MR data analysis. This work focused on improving the an iterative optimization framework between bias-correction, registration, and tissue classification inspired from previous work. The primary contributions are robustness improvements from incorporation of following four elements: (1) utilize multi-modal and repeated scans, (2) incorporate high-deformable registration, (3) use extended set of tissue definitions, and (4) use of multi-modal aware intensity-context priors. The benefits of these enhancements were investigated by a series of experiments with both simulated brain data set (BrainWeb) and by applying to highly-heterogeneous data from a 32 site imaging study with quality assessments through the expert visual inspection. The implementation of this tool is tailored for, but not limited to, large-scale data processing with great data variation with a flexible interface. In this paper, we describe enhancements to a joint registration, bias correction, and the tissue classification, that improve the generalizability and robustness for processing multi-modal longitudinal MR scans collected at multi-sites. The tool was evaluated by using both simulated and simulated and human subject MRI images. With these enhancements, the results showed improved robustness for large-scale heterogeneous MRI processing.

  8. 3D-image theater system using TLP770J LCD data projector; Ekisho data projector wo mochiita rittai eizo theater system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kawasato, H. [Toshiba Corp., Tokyo (Japan)

    2000-02-01

    In today's multimedia era, visual systems are widely used not only for two-dimensional images but also for the depiction of virtual reality and for simulated three-dimensional images. At the same time, the projection technology used in large-screen projectors is shifting from the cathode ray tube (CRT) to the liquid crystal display (LCD). Toshiba has developed a simplified 3D-image theater system using the TLP770J LCD data projector, which offers easy maintenance and lower costs. (author)

  9. ANALISIS KUALITAS PENGELOLAAN GEDUNG TERHADAP KEPUASAN PELANGGAN MENGGUNAKAN METODE SERVQUAL DAN MODEL KANO (STUDI KASUS : PT.TLP DI GEDUNG TCC

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Razul harfi

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available PT. TLP is a company which employs the service area and  the task is  to preserve the TCC building and to fulfill the needs of its users through providing complete facilities and service. But have the customers satisfied with the facilities and services? Therefore, the aim of this research is to measure  the level of customer satisfaction, to determine which service attributes are prioritized for improvements, and the efforts to the improvement. The method used is servqual methods and models of canoes. The servqual method is intended to determine the level of customer satisfaction, while the canoe models is for finding out the preferred  improvement services. The result of servqual analysis shows that there is a gap of all attributes and the scores are negative. These means that the quality of customer service  of PT.TLP is not satisfactory. The average percentage for the customer's perception is 75.25% and 88.10% for expectations. Moreover,  the canoe analysis also shows that out of 32 service attributes, there are 25 attributes that should be corrected, namely 3 services are categorized Attractive, 5 service category One-dimensional, and 17 services are categorized ‘Must be’. Having  integrated the servqual with canoes model, it is obtained that there is a sorting of  the improvements priority, then determined improvements suggestion to evaluation for the company, such as setting the lobby and courtyard regularly, implementing the service with heart, socializing the call center, having the training  regularly, making the  data collection and the disposition  of the vehicle, also  testing of fire protection and alarm regularly

  10. Defining robustness protocols: a method to include and evaluate robustness in clinical plans

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McGowan, S E; Albertini, F; Lomax, A J; Thomas, S J

    2015-01-01

    We aim to define a site-specific robustness protocol to be used during the clinical plan evaluation process. Plan robustness of 16 skull base IMPT plans to systematic range and random set-up errors have been retrospectively and systematically analysed. This was determined by calculating the error-bar dose distribution (ebDD) for all the plans and by defining some metrics used to define protocols aiding the plan assessment. Additionally, an example of how to clinically use the defined robustness database is given whereby a plan with sub-optimal brainstem robustness was identified. The advantage of using different beam arrangements to improve the plan robustness was analysed. Using the ebDD it was found range errors had a smaller effect on dose distribution than the corresponding set-up error in a single fraction, and that organs at risk were most robust to the range errors, whereas the target was more robust to set-up errors. A database was created to aid planners in terms of plan robustness aims in these volumes. This resulted in the definition of site-specific robustness protocols. The use of robustness constraints allowed for the identification of a specific patient that may have benefited from a treatment of greater individuality. A new beam arrangement showed to be preferential when balancing conformality and robustness for this case. The ebDD and error-bar volume histogram proved effective in analysing plan robustness. The process of retrospective analysis could be used to establish site-specific robustness planning protocols in proton therapy. These protocols allow the planner to determine plans that, although delivering a dosimetrically adequate dose distribution, have resulted in sub-optimal robustness to these uncertainties. For these cases the use of different beam start conditions may improve the plan robustness to set-up and range uncertainties. (paper)

  11. Defining robustness protocols: a method to include and evaluate robustness in clinical plans

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGowan, S. E.; Albertini, F.; Thomas, S. J.; Lomax, A. J.

    2015-04-01

    We aim to define a site-specific robustness protocol to be used during the clinical plan evaluation process. Plan robustness of 16 skull base IMPT plans to systematic range and random set-up errors have been retrospectively and systematically analysed. This was determined by calculating the error-bar dose distribution (ebDD) for all the plans and by defining some metrics used to define protocols aiding the plan assessment. Additionally, an example of how to clinically use the defined robustness database is given whereby a plan with sub-optimal brainstem robustness was identified. The advantage of using different beam arrangements to improve the plan robustness was analysed. Using the ebDD it was found range errors had a smaller effect on dose distribution than the corresponding set-up error in a single fraction, and that organs at risk were most robust to the range errors, whereas the target was more robust to set-up errors. A database was created to aid planners in terms of plan robustness aims in these volumes. This resulted in the definition of site-specific robustness protocols. The use of robustness constraints allowed for the identification of a specific patient that may have benefited from a treatment of greater individuality. A new beam arrangement showed to be preferential when balancing conformality and robustness for this case. The ebDD and error-bar volume histogram proved effective in analysing plan robustness. The process of retrospective analysis could be used to establish site-specific robustness planning protocols in proton therapy. These protocols allow the planner to determine plans that, although delivering a dosimetrically adequate dose distribution, have resulted in sub-optimal robustness to these uncertainties. For these cases the use of different beam start conditions may improve the plan robustness to set-up and range uncertainties.

  12. Modeling and Fuzzy PDC Control and Its Application to an Oscillatory TLP Structure

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cheng-Wu Chen

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available An analytical solution is derived to describe the wave-induced flow field and surge motion of a deformable platform structure controlled with fuzzy controllers in an oceanic environment. In the controller design procedure, a parallel distributed compensation (PDC scheme is utilized to construct a global fuzzy logic controller by blending all local state feedback controllers. The Lyapunov method is used to carry out stability analysis of a real system structure. The corresponding boundary value problems are then incorporated into scattering and radiation problems. These are analytically solved, based on the separation of variables, to obtain a series of solutions showing the harmonic incident wave motion and surge motion. The dependence of the wave-induced flow field and its resonant frequency on wave characteristics and structural properties including platform width, thickness and mass can thus be drawn with a parametric approach. The wave-induced displacement of the surge motion is determined from these mathematical models. The vibration of the floating structure and mechanical motion caused by the wave force are also discussed analytically based on fuzzy logic theory and the mathematical framework to find the decay in amplitude of the surge motion in the tension leg platform (TLP system. The expected effects of the damping in amplitude of the surge motion due to the control force on the structural response are obvious.

  13. Effect of alloying elements on the isothermal solidification during TLP bonding of SS 410 and SS 321 using a BNi-2 interlayer

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Arafin, M.A. [Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, H3G 1M8 (Canada)], E-mail: ma_arafi@encs.concordia.ca; Medraj, M. [Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, H3G 1M8 (Canada)], E-mail: mmedraj@encs.concordia.ca; Turner, D.P. [Metallurgical Planning, Pratt and Whitney Canada, Longueuil, Que., J4G 1A1 (Canada)], E-mail: Daniel.P.Turner@pwc.ca; Bocher, P. [Department de Genie Mecanique, Ecole de Technologie Superieure, Montreal, H3C 1K3 (Canada)], E-mail: Philippe.Bocher@etsmtl.ca

    2007-11-15

    The random diffusion of solute atoms during transient liquid phase (TLP) bonding of SS 410 and 321 with nickel-based brazing filler alloy BNi-2 have been modeled using Random Walk Modeling technique. Cumulative probability distributions and probability density functions of isothermal solidification times have been calculated for different process conditions and verified with experimental data. The solubility limit of boron has been found to have decreased from 0.3 at.% at higher temperature bonding operations (1358-1394 K) because of substantial iron-rich base metal dissolution when SS 410 was used as base metals; whereas it remained unchanged for SS 321/BNi-2 combination because of high concentrations of nickel and chromium in the base metal. Silicon diffusion model, based on the EDS analysis, also predicted the isothermal solidification times reasonably well.

  14. Robust remediation strategies at gas-work sites: a case of source recognition and source characterization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vries, P.O. de

    2005-01-01

    In The Netherlands there have been gasworks at about 260 to 270 locations. Most of these locations are or were heavily polluted with tar, ashes and cyanides and many of them belong to the locations where remediation actions have already been executed. It seems however that many of them also belong to the locations where remediation actions were not quite as successful as was expected. So, for many gas-work sites that were already 'remedied' in the 80's and early 90's of the foregoing century, new programs for site remediation are planned. Of course the mistakes from the past should now be avoided. The current remediation strategy in The Netherlands for gas-work sites can be comprised in four steps: 1 - removing spots in the top soil, 2 - removing spots with mobile components in the shallow subsoil, 3 - controlling spots with mobile components in the deep subsoil, 4 - creating a 'steady endpoint situation' in the plume. At many former gas-work sites real sources, i.e. in a physico-chemical sense, are not very well known. This can easily lead to insufficient removal of some or part of these sources and cause a longer delivery of contaminants to the groundwater plume, with higher endpoint concentrations, higher costs and more restrictions for future use. The higher concentrations and longer deliveries originating from not recognized or not localized sources are often not sufficiently compensated by the proposed plume management in current remediation strategies. Remediation results can be improved by using knowledge about the processes that determine the delivery of contaminants to the groundwater, the materials that cause these delivery and the locations at the site where these are most likely found. When sources are present in the deep subsoil or the exact localization of sources is uncertain, robust remediation strategies should be chosen and wishful thinking about removing sources with in situ techniques should be avoided. Robust strategies are probably less

  15. Variation in diffusion-induced solidification rate of liquated Ni-Cr-B insert during TLP bonding of Waspaloy superalloy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tokoro, K.; Wikstrom, N.P.; Ojo, O.A.; Chaturvedi, M.C.

    2008-01-01

    A microstructural study was performed on transient liquid phase (TLP) bonded Waspaloy superalloy with a Ni-Cr-B filler. The applicability of a diffusion model based on Fick's second law of diffusion to determine the time required for complete isothermal solidification (t f ) was investigated. Over the temperature range of 1065-1110 deg. C, experimental observations of t f were in reasonable agreement with t f values predicted by the diffusion model. However, a notable deviation was observed in joints prepared between 1175 and 1225 deg. C in that the rate of isothermal solidification was reduced at these temperatures resulting in the formation of a centerline eutectic-type microconstituent, which in contrast, was prevented from forming after holding the brazing assembly for an equivalent bonding time at a lower temperature of 1145 deg. C. Boride particles were observed as part of the eutectic product, which suggested that diffusion of boron out of the liquated insert was also reduced at these higher temperatures. A decrease in solubility of the melting point depressing solute, boron, with increase in temperature is suggested to be an important factor contributing to the reduction in isothermal solidification rate observed at the higher bonding temperatures

  16. The triple line pattern on carotid intima media thickness imaging and its relationship to cardiovascular risk factors in patients on lipid lowering therapy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Singh TA

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available Tania A Singh,1 Todd C Villines,2 Allen J Taylor31Division of Cardiology, Medstar Georgetown University Hospital, 2Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD, 3Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC, USA Background: Carotid intima media thickness (CIMT infrequently identifies a triple line pattern (TLP in the visualization of the internal elastic lamina. We examined the prevalence and predictors of the TLP among a consecutive series of subjects enrolled in a CIMT clinical trial, and also the effects of lipid lowering therapy.Methods: Baseline CIMT studies of subjects with known heart disease, or high risk for heart disease, were evaluated from a single site of the Arterial Biology for the Investigation of the Treatment Effects of Reducing Cholesterol 6-HDL and LDL Treatment Strategies in Atherosclerosis trial (N=120. One sonographer obtained four views of the right and left far wall common CIMT, using a 13 MHz ultrasound probe. Images were blindly reviewed for the presence of the TLP. The TLP was defined as absent (0, possible (1, or definite (2. A composite score from all four views was calculated. A patient was defined as having the TLP if the composite score was ≥4. Univariate predictors of the TLP were explored. Follow-up ultrasounds at 14 months were also reviewed for presence of the TLP.Results: The prevalence of the TLP at baseline was 22.5%. Among cardiovascular risk variables, systolic blood pressure was significantly higher in subjects displaying the TLP (141.3±15.6 mmHg versus 133.1±18.4 mmHg; P=0.036. There were no differences among those with, and without, the TLP, with respect to other cardiovascular risk variables (age, sex, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, C-reactive protein, glucose, weight, waist girth, tobacco use, medications, quantitative CIMT, or image quality. During ongoing lipid lowering therapy, the prevalence of the TLP increased to 54

  17. Effect of interlayer configurations on joint formation in TLP bonding of Ti-6AI-4V to Mg-AZ31

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Atieh, A. M.; Khan, T. I.

    2013-01-01

    In this research work, the transient liquid phase (TLP) bonding process was utilized to fabricate joints using thin (20 micro m) nickel and copper foils placed between two bonding surfaces to help facilitate joint formation. Two joint configurations were investigated, first, Ti-6Al-4V/CuNi/Mg-AZ31 and second, Ti-6Al-4V/NiCu/Mg-AZ3L The effect of bonding time on microstructural developments across the joint and the changes in mechanical properties were studied as a function of bonding temperature and pressure. The bonded specimens were examined by metallographic analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). In both cases, intermetallic phase of CuMg/sub 2/ and Mg/sub 3/AlNi/sub 2/ was observed inside the joint region. The results show that joint shear strengths for the Ti-6Al-4V/CuNi/Mg-AZ31 setup produce joints with shear strength of 57 MPa compared to 27MPa for joints made using the Ti-6Al-4V/NiCu/Mg-AZ31 layer arrangement. (author)

  18. Effect of interlayer configurations on joint formation in TLP bonding of Ti-6Al-4V to Mg-AZ31

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Atieh, A M; Khan, T I

    2014-01-01

    In this research work, the transient liquid phase (TLP) bonding process was utilized to fabricate joints using thin (20μm) nickel and copper foils placed between two bonding surfaces to help facilitate joint formation. Two joint configurations were investigated, first, Ti-6Al-4V/CuNi/Mg-AZ31 and second, Ti-6Al-4V/NiCu/Mg-AZ3L The effect of bonding time on microstructural developments across the joint and the changes in mechanical properties were studied as a function of bonding temperature and pressure. The bonded specimens were examined by metallographic analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). In both cases, intermetallic phase of CuMg 2 and Mg 3 AlNi 2 was observed inside the joint region. The results show that joint shear strengths for the Ti-6Al-4V/CuNi/Mg-AZ31 setup produce joints with shear strength of 57 MPa compared to 27MPa for joints made using the Ti-6Al-4V/NiCu/Mg-AZ31 layer arrangement

  19. Robustness of high-fidelity Rydberg gates with single-site addressability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goerz, Michael H.; Halperin, Eli J.; Aytac, Jon M.; Koch, Christiane P.; Whaley, K. Birgitta

    2014-09-01

    Controlled-phase (cphase) gates can be realized with trapped neutral atoms by making use of the Rydberg blockade. Achieving the ultrahigh fidelities required for quantum computation with such Rydberg gates, however, is compromised by experimental inaccuracies in pulse amplitudes and timings, as well as by stray fields that cause fluctuations of the Rydberg levels. We report here a comparative study of analytic and numerical pulse sequences for the Rydberg cphase gate that specifically examines the robustness of the gate fidelity with respect to such experimental perturbations. Analytical pulse sequences of both simultaneous and stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) are found to be at best moderately robust under these perturbations. In contrast, optimal control theory is seen to allow generation of numerical pulses that are inherently robust within a predefined tolerance window. The resulting numerical pulse shapes display simple modulation patterns and can be rationalized in terms of an interference between distinct two-photon Rydberg excitation pathways. Pulses of such low complexity should be experimentally feasible, allowing gate fidelities of order 99.90-99.99% to be achievable under realistic experimental conditions.

  20. Cloning and expression of three thaumatin-like protein genes from Polyporus umbellatus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mengmeng Liu

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Genes encoding thaumatin-like protein (TLPs are frequently found in fungal genomes. However, information on TLP genes in Polyporus umbellatus is still limited. In this study, three TLP genes were cloned from P. umbellatus. The full-length coding sequence of PuTLP1, PuTLP2 and PuTLP3 were 768, 759 and 561 bp long, respectively, encoding for 256, 253 and 187 amino acids. Phylogenetic trees showed that P. umbellatus PuTLP1, PuTLP2 and PuTLP3 were clustered with sequences from Gloeophyllum trabeum, Trametes versicolor and Stereum hirsutum, respectively. The expression patterns of the three TLP genes were higher in P. umbellatus with Armillaria mellea infection than in the sclerotia without A. mellea. Furthermore, over-expression of three PuTLPs were carried out in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3 strain, and high quality proteins were obtained using Ni-NTA resin that can be used for preparation of specific antibodies. These results suggest that PuTLP1, PuTLP2 and PuTLP3 in P. umbellatus may be involved in the defense response to A. mellea infections.

  1. Extraordinary Separation of Acetylene-Containing Mixtures with Microporous Metal-Organic Frameworks with Open O Donor Sites and Tunable Robustness through Control of the Helical Chain Secondary Building Units

    KAUST Repository

    Yao, Zizhu; Zhang, Zhangjing; Liu, Lizhen; Li, Ziyin; Zhou, Wei; Zhao, Yunfeng; Han, Yu; Chen, Banglin; Krishna, Rajamani; Xiang, Shengchang

    2016-01-01

    Acetylene separation is a very important but challenging industrial separation task. Here, through the solvothermal reaction of CuI and 5-triazole isophthalic acid in different solvents, two metal-organic frameworks (MOFs, FJU-21 and FJU-22) with open O donor sites and controllable robustness have been obtained for acetylene separation. They contain the same paddle-wheel {Cu2(COO2)4} nodes and metal-ligand connection modes, but with different helical chains as secondary building units (SBUs), leading to different structural robustness for the MOFs. FJU-21 and FJU-22 are the first examples in which the MOFs' robustness is controlled by adjusting the helical chain SBUs. Good robustness gives the activated FJU-22 a, which has higher surface area and gas uptakes than the flexible FJU-21 a. Importantly, FJU-22 a shows extraordinary separation of acetylene mixtures under ambient conditions. The separation capacity of FJU-22 a for 50:50 C2H2/CO2 mixtures is about twice that of the high-capacity HOF-3, and its actual separation selectivity for C2H2/C2H4 mixtures containing 1 % acetylene is the highest among reported porous materials. Based on first-principles calculations, the extraordinary separation performance of C2H2 for FJU-22 a was attributed to hydrogen-bonding interactions between the C2H2 molecules with the open O donors on the wall, which provide better recognition ability for C2H2 than other functional sites, including open metal sites and amino groups. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  2. Extraordinary Separation of Acetylene-Containing Mixtures with Microporous Metal-Organic Frameworks with Open O Donor Sites and Tunable Robustness through Control of the Helical Chain Secondary Building Units

    KAUST Repository

    Yao, Zizhu

    2016-03-02

    Acetylene separation is a very important but challenging industrial separation task. Here, through the solvothermal reaction of CuI and 5-triazole isophthalic acid in different solvents, two metal-organic frameworks (MOFs, FJU-21 and FJU-22) with open O donor sites and controllable robustness have been obtained for acetylene separation. They contain the same paddle-wheel {Cu2(COO2)4} nodes and metal-ligand connection modes, but with different helical chains as secondary building units (SBUs), leading to different structural robustness for the MOFs. FJU-21 and FJU-22 are the first examples in which the MOFs\\' robustness is controlled by adjusting the helical chain SBUs. Good robustness gives the activated FJU-22 a, which has higher surface area and gas uptakes than the flexible FJU-21 a. Importantly, FJU-22 a shows extraordinary separation of acetylene mixtures under ambient conditions. The separation capacity of FJU-22 a for 50:50 C2H2/CO2 mixtures is about twice that of the high-capacity HOF-3, and its actual separation selectivity for C2H2/C2H4 mixtures containing 1 % acetylene is the highest among reported porous materials. Based on first-principles calculations, the extraordinary separation performance of C2H2 for FJU-22 a was attributed to hydrogen-bonding interactions between the C2H2 molecules with the open O donors on the wall, which provide better recognition ability for C2H2 than other functional sites, including open metal sites and amino groups. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  3. Transducer Like Proteins of Campylobacter jejuni 81-176: Role in chemotaxis and colonization of the chicken gastrointestinal tract

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gireesh eRajashekara

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Transducer Like Proteins (Tlps, also known as Methyl accepting chemotaxis proteins (MCP, enable enteric pathogens to respond to changing nutrient levels in the environment by mediating taxis towards or away from specific chemoeffector molecules such as nutrients. Despite recent advances in the characterization of chemotaxis responses in Campylobacter jejuni, the impact of Tlps on the adaptation of this pathogen to disparate niches and hosts is not fully characterized. The latter is particularly evident in the case of C. jejuni 81-176, a strain that is known to be highly invasive. Furthermore, the cytoplasmic group C Tlps (Tlp5, 6, and 8 was not extensively evaluated. Here, we investigated the role of C. jejuni 81-176 Tlps in chemotaxis towards various substrates, biofilm formation, in vitro interaction with human intestinal cells, and chicken colonization. We found that the ∆tlp6 and ∆tlp10 mutants exhibited decreased chemotaxis towards aspartate whereas the ∆tlp6 mutant displayed a decreased chemotaxis towards Tri-Carboxylic Acid (TCA cycle intermediates such as pyruvate, isocitrate, and succinate. Our findings also corroborated that more than one Tlp is involved in mediating chemotaxis towards the same nutrient. The deletion of tlps affected important phenotypes such as motility, biofilm formation, and invasion of human intestinal epithelial cells (INT-407. The ∆tlp8 mutant displayed increased motility in soft agar and showed decreased biofilm formation. The ∆tlp8 and ∆tlp9 mutants were significantly defective in invasion in INT-407 cells. The ∆tlp10 mutant was defective in colonization of the chicken proximal and distal gastrointestinal tract, while the ∆tlp6 and ∆tlp8 mutants showed reduced colonization of the duodenum and jejunum. Our results highlight the importance of Tlps in C. jejuni’s adaptation and pathobiology.

  4. Robust detection of discordant sites in regional frequency analysis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Neykov, N.M.; Neytchev, P.N.; Van Gelder, P.H.A.J.M.; Todorov, V.K.

    2007-01-01

    The discordancy measure in terms of the sample L?moment ratios (L?CV, L?skewness, L?kurtosis) of the at?site data is widely recommended in the screening process of atypical sites in the regional frequency analysis (RFA). The sample mean and the covariance matrix of the L?moments ratios, on which the

  5. Leaf turgor loss point is correlated with drought tolerance and leaf carbon economics traits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Shi-Dan; Chen, Ya-Jun; Ye, Qing; He, Peng-Cheng; Liu, Hui; Li, Rong-Hua; Fu, Pei-Li; Jiang, Guo-Feng; Cao, Kun-Fang

    2018-05-01

    Leaf turgor loss point (πtlp) indicates the capacity of a plant to maintain cell turgor pressure during dehydration, which has been proven to be strongly predictive of the plant response to drought. In this study, we compiled a data set of πtlp for 1752 woody plant individuals belonging to 389 species from nine major woody biomes in China, along with reduced sample size of hydraulic and leaf carbon economics data. We aimed to investigate the variation of πtlp across biomes varying in water availability. We also tested two hypotheses: (i) πtlp predicts leaf hydraulic safety margins and (ii) it is correlated with leaf carbon economics traits. Our results showed that there was a positive relationship between πtlp and aridity index: biomes from humid regions had less negative values than those from arid regions. This supports the idea that πtlp may reflect drought tolerance at the scale of woody biomes. As expected, πtlp was significantly positively correlated with leaf hydraulic safety margins that varied significantly across biomes, indicating that this trait may be useful in modelling changes of forest components in response to increasing drought. Moreover, πtlp was correlated with a suite of coordinated hydraulic and economics traits; therefore, it can be used to predict the position of a given species along the 'fast-slow' whole-plant economics spectrum. This study expands our understanding of the biological significance of πtlp not only in drought tolerance, but also in the plant economics spectrum.

  6. Manipulating the autolytic pathway of a Bacillus protease

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    VandenBurg, B; Eijsink, VGH; Vriend, G; Veltman, OR; Venema, G; HopsuHavu, VK; Jarvinen, M; Kirschke, H

    1997-01-01

    Autolytic degradation of Bacillus subtilis thermolysin-like proteinase (TLP-sub) is responsible for the irreversible inactivation of the enzyme at elevated temperatures. Previously, we reported five autolysis sites in B. subtilis neutral protease (Van den Burg et al., 1990, Biochem. J. 272:93-97).

  7. Robustness Metrics: Consolidating the multiple approaches to quantify Robustness

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Göhler, Simon Moritz; Eifler, Tobias; Howard, Thomas J.

    2016-01-01

    robustness metrics; 3) Functional expectancy and dispersion robustness metrics; and 4) Probability of conformance robustness metrics. The goal was to give a comprehensive overview of robustness metrics and guidance to scholars and practitioners to understand the different types of robustness metrics...

  8. Differences in xylem and leaf hydraulic traits explain differences in drought tolerance among mature Amazon rainforest trees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Powell, Thomas L; Wheeler, James K; de Oliveira, Alex A R; da Costa, Antonio Carlos Lola; Saleska, Scott R; Meir, Patrick; Moorcroft, Paul R

    2017-10-01

    Considerable uncertainty surrounds the impacts of anthropogenic climate change on the composition and structure of Amazon forests. Building upon results from two large-scale ecosystem drought experiments in the eastern Brazilian Amazon that observed increases in mortality rates among some tree species but not others, in this study we investigate the physiological traits underpinning these differential demographic responses. Xylem pressure at 50% conductivity (xylem-P 50 ), leaf turgor loss point (TLP), cellular osmotic potential (π o ), and cellular bulk modulus of elasticity (ε), all traits mechanistically linked to drought tolerance, were measured on upper canopy branches and leaves of mature trees from selected species growing at the two drought experiment sites. Each species was placed a priori into one of four plant functional type (PFT) categories: drought-tolerant versus drought-intolerant based on observed mortality rates, and subdivided into early- versus late-successional based on wood density. We tested the hypotheses that the measured traits would be significantly different between the four PFTs and that they would be spatially conserved across the two experimental sites. Xylem-P 50 , TLP, and π o , but not ε, occurred at significantly higher water potentials for the drought-intolerant PFT compared to the drought-tolerant PFT; however, there were no significant differences between the early- and late-successional PFTs. These results suggest that these three traits are important for determining drought tolerance, and are largely independent of wood density-a trait commonly associated with successional status. Differences in these physiological traits that occurred between the drought-tolerant and drought-intolerant PFTs were conserved between the two research sites, even though they had different soil types and dry-season lengths. This more detailed understanding of how xylem and leaf hydraulic traits vary between co-occuring drought-tolerant and

  9. Thaumatin-like proteins are differentially expressed and localized in phloem tissues of hybrid poplar

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dafoe Nicole J

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Two thaumatin-like proteins (TLPs were previously identified in phloem exudate of hybrid poplar (Populus trichocarpa × P. deltoides using proteomics methods, and their sieve element localization confirmed by immunofluorescence. In the current study, we analyzed different tissues to further understand TLP expression and localization in poplar, and used immunogold labelling to determine intracellular localization. Results Immunofluorescence using a TLP antiserum confirmed the presence of TLP in punctate, organelle-like structures within sieve elements. On western blots, the antiserum labeled two constitutively expressed proteins with distinct expression patterns. Immunogold labelling suggested that TLPs are associated with starch granules and starch-containing plastids in sieve elements and phloem parenchyma cells. In addition, the antiserum recognized TLPs in the inner cell wall and sieve plate region of sieve elements. Conclusions TLP localization in poplar cells and tissues is complex. TLP1 is expressed predominantly in tissues with a prominent vascular system such as midveins, petioles and stems, whereas the second TLP is primarily expressed in starch-storing plastids found in young leaves and the shoot apex.

  10. Multiple Acid Sensors Control Helicobacter pylori Colonization of the Stomach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Julie Y; Goers Sweeney, Emily; Guillemin, Karen; Amieva, Manuel R

    2017-01-01

    Helicobacter pylori's ability to respond to environmental cues in the stomach is integral to its survival. By directly visualizing H. pylori swimming behavior when encountering a microscopic gradient consisting of the repellent acid and attractant urea, we found that H. pylori is able to simultaneously detect both signals, and its response depends on the magnitudes of the individual signals. By testing for the bacteria's response to a pure acid gradient, we discovered that the chemoreceptors TlpA and TlpD are each independent acid sensors. They enable H. pylori to respond to and escape from increases in hydrogen ion concentration near 100 nanomolar. TlpD also mediates attraction to basic pH, a response dampened by another chemoreceptor TlpB. H. pylori mutants lacking both TlpA and TlpD (ΔtlpAD) are unable to sense acid and are defective in establishing colonization in the murine stomach. However, blocking acid production in the stomach with omeprazole rescues ΔtlpAD's colonization defect. We used 3D confocal microscopy to determine how acid blockade affects the distribution of H. pylori in the stomach. We found that stomach acid controls not only the overall bacterial density, but also the microscopic distribution of bacteria that colonize the epithelium deep in the gastric glands. In omeprazole treated animals, bacterial abundance is increased in the antral glands, and gland colonization range is extended to the corpus. Our findings indicate that H. pylori has evolved at least two independent receptors capable of detecting acid gradients, allowing not only survival in the stomach, but also controlling the interaction of the bacteria with the epithelium.

  11. Robust design optimization using the price of robustness, robust least squares and regularization methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bukhari, Hassan J.

    2017-12-01

    In this paper a framework for robust optimization of mechanical design problems and process systems that have parametric uncertainty is presented using three different approaches. Robust optimization problems are formulated so that the optimal solution is robust which means it is minimally sensitive to any perturbations in parameters. The first method uses the price of robustness approach which assumes the uncertain parameters to be symmetric and bounded. The robustness for the design can be controlled by limiting the parameters that can perturb.The second method uses the robust least squares method to determine the optimal parameters when data itself is subjected to perturbations instead of the parameters. The last method manages uncertainty by restricting the perturbation on parameters to improve sensitivity similar to Tikhonov regularization. The methods are implemented on two sets of problems; one linear and the other non-linear. This methodology will be compared with a prior method using multiple Monte Carlo simulation runs which shows that the approach being presented in this paper results in better performance.

  12. A Unifying Mathematical Framework for Genetic Robustness, Environmental Robustness, Network Robustness and their Trade-offs on Phenotype Robustness in Biological Networks. Part III: Synthetic Gene Networks in Synthetic Biology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Bor-Sen; Lin, Ying-Po

    2013-01-01

    Robust stabilization and environmental disturbance attenuation are ubiquitous systematic properties that are observed in biological systems at many different levels. The underlying principles for robust stabilization and environmental disturbance attenuation are universal to both complex biological systems and sophisticated engineering systems. In many biological networks, network robustness should be large enough to confer: intrinsic robustness for tolerating intrinsic parameter fluctuations; genetic robustness for buffering genetic variations; and environmental robustness for resisting environmental disturbances. Network robustness is needed so phenotype stability of biological network can be maintained, guaranteeing phenotype robustness. Synthetic biology is foreseen to have important applications in biotechnology and medicine; it is expected to contribute significantly to a better understanding of functioning of complex biological systems. This paper presents a unifying mathematical framework for investigating the principles of both robust stabilization and environmental disturbance attenuation for synthetic gene networks in synthetic biology. Further, from the unifying mathematical framework, we found that the phenotype robustness criterion for synthetic gene networks is the following: if intrinsic robustness + genetic robustness + environmental robustness ≦ network robustness, then the phenotype robustness can be maintained in spite of intrinsic parameter fluctuations, genetic variations, and environmental disturbances. Therefore, the trade-offs between intrinsic robustness, genetic robustness, environmental robustness, and network robustness in synthetic biology can also be investigated through corresponding phenotype robustness criteria from the systematic point of view. Finally, a robust synthetic design that involves network evolution algorithms with desired behavior under intrinsic parameter fluctuations, genetic variations, and environmental

  13. Model Development and Loads Analysis of an Offshore Wind Turbine on a Tension Leg Platform with a Comparison to Other Floating Turbine Concepts: April 2009

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Matha, D.

    2010-02-01

    This report presents results of the analysis of a 5-MW wind turbine located on a floating offshore tension leg platform (TLP) that was conducted using the fully coupled time-domain aero-hydro-servo-elastic design code FAST with AeroDyn and HydroDyn. The report also provides a description of the development process of the TLP model. The model has been verified via comparisons to frequency-domain calculations. Important differences have been identified between the frequency-domain and time-domain simulations, and have generated implications for the conceptual design process. An extensive loads and stability analysis for ultimate and fatigue loads according to the procedure of the IEC 61400-3 offshore wind turbine design standard was performed with the verified TLP model. This report compares the loads for the wind turbine on the TLP to those of an equivalent land-based turbine. Major instabilities for the TLP are identified and described.

  14. Perceptual Robust Design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Søren Nygaard

    The research presented in this PhD thesis has focused on a perceptual approach to robust design. The results of the research and the original contribution to knowledge is a preliminary framework for understanding, positioning, and applying perceptual robust design. Product quality is a topic...... been presented. Therefore, this study set out to contribute to the understanding and application of perceptual robust design. To achieve this, a state-of-the-art and current practice review was performed. From the review two main research problems were identified. Firstly, a lack of tools...... for perceptual robustness was found to overlap with the optimum for functional robustness and at most approximately 2.2% out of the 14.74% could be ascribed solely to the perceptual robustness optimisation. In conclusion, the thesis have offered a new perspective on robust design by merging robust design...

  15. SU-E-T-625: Robustness Evaluation and Robust Optimization of IMPT Plans Based on Per-Voxel Standard Deviation of Dose Distributions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, W; Mohan, R

    2012-06-01

    Proton dose distributions, IMPT in particular, are highly sensitive to setup and range uncertainties. We report a novel method, based on per-voxel standard deviation (SD) of dose distributions, to evaluate the robustness of proton plans and to robustly optimize IMPT plans to render them less sensitive to uncertainties. For each optimization iteration, nine dose distributions are computed - the nominal one, and one each for ± setup uncertainties along x, y and z axes and for ± range uncertainty. SD of dose in each voxel is used to create SD-volume histogram (SVH) for each structure. SVH may be considered a quantitative representation of the robustness of the dose distribution. For optimization, the desired robustness may be specified in terms of an SD-volume (SV) constraint on the CTV and incorporated as a term in the objective function. Results of optimization with and without this constraint were compared in terms of plan optimality and robustness using the so called'worst case' dose distributions; which are obtained by assigning the lowest among the nine doses to each voxel in the clinical target volume (CTV) and the highest to normal tissue voxels outside the CTV. The SVH curve and the area under it for each structure were used as quantitative measures of robustness. Penalty parameter of SV constraint may be varied to control the tradeoff between robustness and plan optimality. We applied these methods to one case each of H&N and lung. In both cases, we found that imposing SV constraint improved plan robustness but at the cost of normal tissue sparing. SVH-based optimization and evaluation is an effective tool for robustness evaluation and robust optimization of IMPT plans. Studies need to be conducted to test the methods for larger cohorts of patients and for other sites. This research is supported by National Cancer Institute (NCI) grant P01CA021239, the University Cancer Foundation via the Institutional Research Grant program at the University of Texas MD

  16. Robust multivariate analysis

    CERN Document Server

    J Olive, David

    2017-01-01

    This text presents methods that are robust to the assumption of a multivariate normal distribution or methods that are robust to certain types of outliers. Instead of using exact theory based on the multivariate normal distribution, the simpler and more applicable large sample theory is given.  The text develops among the first practical robust regression and robust multivariate location and dispersion estimators backed by theory.   The robust techniques  are illustrated for methods such as principal component analysis, canonical correlation analysis, and factor analysis.  A simple way to bootstrap confidence regions is also provided. Much of the research on robust multivariate analysis in this book is being published for the first time. The text is suitable for a first course in Multivariate Statistical Analysis or a first course in Robust Statistics. This graduate text is also useful for people who are familiar with the traditional multivariate topics, but want to know more about handling data sets with...

  17. Semi-automated Robust Quantification of Lesions (SRQL Toolbox

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kaori Ito

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available Quantifying lesions in a robust manner is fundamental for studying the effects of neuroanatomical changes in the post-stroke brain on recovery. However, the wide variability in lesion characteristics across individuals makes manual lesion segmentation a challenging and often subjective process. This makes it difficult to combine stroke lesion data across multiple research sites, due to subjective differences in how lesions may be defined. We developed the Semi-automated Robust Quantification of Lesions (SRQL; https://github.com/npnl/SRQL; DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.267213 Toolbox that performs several analysis steps: 1 a white matter intensity correction that removes healthy white matter voxels from the lesion mask, thereby making lesions slightly more robust to subjective errors; 2 an automated report of descriptive statistics on lesions for simplified comparison between or across groups, and 3 an option to perform analyses in both native and standard space to facilitate analyses in either space, or comparisons between spaces. Here, we describe the methods implemented in the toolbox and demonstrate the outputs of the SRQL toolbox.

  18. Emotional responses to a negative emotion induction procedure in Borderline Personality Disorder

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Albert Feliu-Soler

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available El presente estudio pretende determinar si existe o no una mayor reactividad emocional en el Trastorno Límite de la Personalidad (TLP en un contexto de laboratorio. Se realizó una inducción emocional negativa (presentación de imágenes estandarizadas con contenido negativo a cincuenta participantes (35 pacientes con TLP y 15 controles sanos. Para evaluar la respuesta emocional subjetiva se utilizaron cuestionarios auto-informados; los niveles de cortisol (sCORT y alfa-amilasa (sAA salivares se utilizaron para medir la reactividad biológica al procedimiento. En el grupo de TLP, se observaron niveles de sCORT más bajos y niveles de sAA más elevados en comparación al grupo control. No se observaron diferencias significativas en relación a la reactividad emocional auto-informada, pero los pacientes con TLP reportaron mayor intensidad de emociones negativas a nivel basal así como también durante todo el procedimiento. Los resultados no apoyan la hipótesis de hiperreactividad emocional en el TLP. Sin embargo, los pacientes con TLP presentaron mayor intensidad de emociones negativas a nivel basal, característica que debería ser considerada como esencial en el trastorno. Futuros estudios deberán incorporar otros paradigmas de inducción emocional más específicos para TLP con el fin de confirmar las tendencias observadas en el presente estudio. © 2012 Asociación Española de Psicología Conductual. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L. Todos los derechos reservados.

  19. Robustness of Structures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Faber, Michael Havbro; Vrouwenvelder, A.C.W.M.; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2011-01-01

    In 2005, the Joint Committee on Structural Safety (JCSS) together with Working Commission (WC) 1 of the International Association of Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE) organized a workshop on robustness of structures. Two important decisions resulted from this workshop, namely...... ‘COST TU0601: Robustness of Structures’ was initiated in February 2007, aiming to provide a platform for exchanging and promoting research in the area of structural robustness and to provide a basic framework, together with methods, strategies and guidelines enhancing robustness of structures...... the development of a joint European project on structural robustness under the COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) programme and the decision to develop a more elaborate document on structural robustness in collaboration between experts from the JCSS and the IABSE. Accordingly, a project titled...

  20. Robustness of non-interdependent and interdependent networks against dependent and adaptive attacks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tyra, Adam; Li, Jingtao; Shang, Yilun; Jiang, Shuo; Zhao, Yanjun; Xu, Shouhuai

    2017-09-01

    Robustness of complex networks has been extensively studied via the notion of site percolation, which typically models independent and non-adaptive attacks (or disruptions). However, real-life attacks are often dependent and/or adaptive. This motivates us to characterize the robustness of complex networks, including non-interdependent and interdependent ones, against dependent and adaptive attacks. For this purpose, dependent attacks are accommodated by L-hop percolation where the nodes within some L-hop (L ≥ 0) distance of a chosen node are all deleted during one attack (with L = 0 degenerating to site percolation). Whereas, adaptive attacks are launched by attackers who can make node-selection decisions based on the network state in the beginning of each attack. The resulting characterization enriches the body of knowledge with new insights, such as: (i) the Achilles' Heel phenomenon is only valid for independent attacks, but not for dependent attacks; (ii) powerful attack strategies (e.g., targeted attacks and dependent attacks, dependent attacks and adaptive attacks) are not compatible and cannot help the attacker when used collectively. Our results shed some light on the design of robust complex networks.

  1. The immediate effect of individual manipulation techniques on pulmonary function measures in persons with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noll, Donald R; Johnson, Jane C; Baer, Robert W; Snider, Eric J

    2009-10-08

    The use of manipulation has long been advocated in the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but few randomized controlled clinical trials have measured the effect of manipulation on pulmonary function. In addition, the effects of individual manipulative techniques on the pulmonary system are poorly understood. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the immediate effects of four osteopathic techniques on pulmonary function measures in persons with COPD relative to a minimal-touch control protocol. Persons with COPD aged 50 and over were recruited for the study. Subjects received five, single-technique treatment sessions: minimal-touch control, thoracic lymphatic pump (TLP) with activation, TLP without activation, rib raising, and myofascial release. There was a 4-week washout period between sessions. Protocols were given in random order until all five techniques had been administered. Pulmonary function measures were obtained at baseline and 30-minutes posttreatment. For the actual pulmonary function measures and percent predicted values, Wilcoxon signed rank tests were used to test within-technique changes from baseline. For the percent change from baseline, Friedman tests were used to test for between-technique differences. Twenty-five subjects were enrolled in the study. All four tested osteopathic techniques were associated with adverse posttreatment changes in pulmonary function measures; however, different techniques changed different measures. TLP with activation increased posttreatment residual volume compared to baseline, while TLP without activation did not. Side effects were mild, mostly posttreatment chest wall soreness. Surprisingly, the majority of subjects believed they could breathe better after receiving osteopathic manipulation. In persons with COPD, TLP with activation, TLP without activation, rib raising, and myofascial release mildly worsened pulmonary function measures immediately posttreatment relative to

  2. Application of a newly built semi-submersible vessel for transportation of a tension leg platform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Dagang; Sun, Weiying; Fan, Zhixia

    2012-09-01

    Transportation of tension leg platform (TLP) structures for a long distance has always been associated with the use of a heavy semi-transport vessel. The requirements of this type of vessel are always special, and their availability is limited. To prepare for the future development of South China Sea deepwater projects, the China Offshore Oil Engineering Corporation has recently built a heavy lift transport vessel-Hai Yang Shi You 278. This semi-submersible vessel has a displacement capacity of 50k DWT, and a breath of 42 meters. Understanding the vessel's applicability and preparing it for use in future deepwater projects are becoming imminent needs. This paper reviews the current critical issues associated with TLP transportation and performs detailed analysis of the designed TLP during load-out and transportation. The newly built COOEC transportation vessel HYSY 278 was applied to dry transport of the TLP structure from the COOEC fabrication yard in Qingdao to an oil field in South China Sea. The entire process included the load-out of the TLP structure from the landsite of the fabrication yard, the offloading and float-on of the platform from the vessel, the dry transport of the TLP over a long distance, and the final offloading of the platform. Both hydrodynamic and structure analysis were performed to evaluate the behavior of the transport vessel and TLP structure. Special attention was paid to critical areas associated with the use of this new vessel, along with any potential limitations. The results demonstrate that HYSY 278 can effectively be used for transporting the structure with proper arrangement and well-prepared operation. The procedure and details were presented on the basis of the study results. Special attention was also given to discussion on future use based on the results from the analysis.

  3. Methods for robustness programming

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Olieman, N.J.

    2008-01-01

    Robustness of an object is defined as the probability that an object will have properties as required. Robustness Programming (RP) is a mathematical approach for Robustness estimation and Robustness optimisation. An example in the context of designing a food product, is finding the best composition

  4. Robustness of Structural Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Canisius, T.D.G.; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard; Baker, J.W.

    2007-01-01

    The importance of robustness as a property of structural systems has been recognised following several structural failures, such as that at Ronan Point in 1968,where the consequenceswere deemed unacceptable relative to the initiating damage. A variety of research efforts in the past decades have...... attempted to quantify aspects of robustness such as redundancy and identify design principles that can improve robustness. This paper outlines the progress of recent work by the Joint Committee on Structural Safety (JCSS) to develop comprehensive guidance on assessing and providing robustness in structural...... systems. Guidance is provided regarding the assessment of robustness in a framework that considers potential hazards to the system, vulnerability of system components, and failure consequences. Several proposed methods for quantifying robustness are reviewed, and guidelines for robust design...

  5. Robustness in laying hens

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Star, L.

    2008-01-01

    The aim of the project ‘The genetics of robustness in laying hens’ was to investigate nature and regulation of robustness in laying hens under sub-optimal conditions and the possibility to increase robustness by using animal breeding without loss of production. At the start of the project, a robust

  6. Low-cost production of proinsulin in tobacco and lettuce chloroplasts for injectable or oral delivery of functional insulin and C-peptide.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boyhan, Diane; Daniell, Henry

    2011-06-01

    Current treatment for type I diabetes includes delivery of insulin via injection or pump, which is highly invasive and expensive. The production of chloroplast-derived proinsulin should reduce cost and facilitate oral delivery. Therefore, tobacco and lettuce chloroplasts were transformed with the cholera toxin B subunit fused with human proinsulin (A, B, C peptides) containing three furin cleavage sites (CTB-PFx3). Transplastomic lines were confirmed for site-specific integration of transgene and homoplasmy. Old tobacco leaves accumulated proinsulin up to 47% of total leaf protein (TLP). Old lettuce leaves accumulated proinsulin up to 53% TLP. Accumulation was so stable that up to ~40% proinsulin in TLP was observed even in senescent and dried lettuce leaves, facilitating their processing and storage in the field. Based on the yield of only monomers and dimers of proinsulin (3 mg/g leaf, a significant underestimation), with a 50% loss of protein during the purification process, one acre of tobacco could yield up to 20 million daily doses of insulin per year. Proinsulin from tobacco leaves was purified up to 98% using metal affinity chromatography without any His-tag. Furin protease cleaved insulin peptides in vitro. Oral delivery of unprocessed proinsulin bioencapsulated in plant cells or injectable delivery into mice showed reduction in blood glucose levels similar to processed commercial insulin. C-peptide should aid in long-term treatment of diabetic complications including stimulation of nerve and renal functions. Hyper-expression of functional proinsulin and exceptional stability in dehydrated leaves offer a low-cost platform for oral and injectable delivery of cleavable proinsulin. © 2010 The Authors. Plant Biotechnology Journal © 2010 Society for Experimental Biology, Association of Applied Biologists and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  7. Wittgenstein y la teoría contemplativa del significado Observaciones a la tesis de Juan Abugattás

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Álvaro Revolledo Novoa

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Este ensayo consiste en una lectura crítica de la interpretación que realiza el filósofo peruano Juan Abugattás en torno a la “teoría contemplativa” del Tractatus Logico Philosophicus (TLP de Ludwig Wittgenstein. En particular, se encarga de revisar la tesis de Bachiller de Juan Abugattás en la que afirma que la teoría del significado del TLP es reemplazada por la teoría del uso en la obra posterior de Wittgenstein. El objetivo central de este ensayo es demostrar que la teoría del significado del TLP no es, como pretende Abugattás, una mera teoría contemplativa, y que la teoría del significado de las Philosophische Bemerkungen (Ph. B., a diferencia de lo que sostiene Abugattás, aun mantiene intacta la perspectiva del TLP respecto de cómo el lenguaje puede permitirnos conocer el mundo. En ambos casos, sostengo que la teoría del significado del TLP obedece a una respuesta a la crítica lingüística de Mauthner y sus consecuencias en el plano del conocimiento.Palabras claves: Wittgenstein, teoría del significado, Tractatus Logico Philosophicus, lenguaje, conocimiento.

  8. Robust Growth Determinants

    OpenAIRE

    Doppelhofer, Gernot; Weeks, Melvyn

    2011-01-01

    This paper investigates the robustness of determinants of economic growth in the presence of model uncertainty, parameter heterogeneity and outliers. The robust model averaging approach introduced in the paper uses a flexible and parsi- monious mixture modeling that allows for fat-tailed errors compared to the normal benchmark case. Applying robust model averaging to growth determinants, the paper finds that eight out of eighteen variables found to be significantly related to economic growth ...

  9. Transient voltage suppressor diode designed for the protection of high-brightness GaN-based LEDs from various electrostatic discharge shocks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bouangeune, Daoheung; Lee, Yeji; Cho, Jaehee; Shim, Kyuhwan; Choi, Cheljong; Choi, Sangsik; Cho, Deokho

    2014-01-01

    Transient voltage suppressor (TVS) diodes were fabricated using low-temperature epitaxy technology and were employed to improve the electrostatic discharge (ESD) strength of GaN light emitting diodes (LEDs). The ESD performance and the protection capability of the TVS diodes were investigated using various ESD simulators of the human body model (HBM), the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) 61000-4-2 (IEC), and a transmission line pulse (TLP) analysis. According to the IEC, the manufactured TVS diode could withstand in excess of ±30 kV without any degradation in the I-V characteristics; meanwhile, the GaN LED itself exhibited catastrophic degradation caused by weak ESD power. The GaN LED assembled with the TVS diode had improved ESD robustness from ±3.8 kV to ±8 kV according to the HBM, from ±1.2 kV to > ±30 kV according to the IEC, and from 4.3 A to > ±30 A according to the TLP analysis. Furthermore, its performance was maintained perfect I-V manner with negligible changes in radiant power, leakage current and breakdown voltage up to the limit of the ESD simulators. Namely, the manufactured TVS diodes were effective in the protection of sensitive GaN LEDs from very strong ESD shocks.

  10. Transient voltage suppressor diode designed for the protection of high-brightness GaN-based LEDs from various electrostatic discharge shocks

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bouangeune, Daoheung; Lee, Yeji; Cho, Jaehee; Shim, Kyuhwan; Choi, Cheljong [Chonbuk National University, Jeonju (Korea, Republic of); Choi, Sangsik; Cho, Deokho [Sigetronics, Inc., Jeonju (Korea, Republic of)

    2014-10-15

    Transient voltage suppressor (TVS) diodes were fabricated using low-temperature epitaxy technology and were employed to improve the electrostatic discharge (ESD) strength of GaN light emitting diodes (LEDs). The ESD performance and the protection capability of the TVS diodes were investigated using various ESD simulators of the human body model (HBM), the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) 61000-4-2 (IEC), and a transmission line pulse (TLP) analysis. According to the IEC, the manufactured TVS diode could withstand in excess of ±30 kV without any degradation in the I-V characteristics; meanwhile, the GaN LED itself exhibited catastrophic degradation caused by weak ESD power. The GaN LED assembled with the TVS diode had improved ESD robustness from ±3.8 kV to ±8 kV according to the HBM, from ±1.2 kV to > ±30 kV according to the IEC, and from 4.3 A to > ±30 A according to the TLP analysis. Furthermore, its performance was maintained perfect I-V manner with negligible changes in radiant power, leakage current and breakdown voltage up to the limit of the ESD simulators. Namely, the manufactured TVS diodes were effective in the protection of sensitive GaN LEDs from very strong ESD shocks.

  11. Robustness of structures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vrouwenvelder, T.; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2009-01-01

    After the collapse of the World Trade Centre towers in 2001 and a number of collapses of structural systems in the beginning of the century, robustness of structural systems has gained renewed interest. Despite many significant theoretical, methodical and technological advances, structural...... of robustness for structural design such requirements are not substantiated in more detail, nor have the engineering profession been able to agree on an interpretation of robustness which facilitates for its uantification. A European COST action TU 601 on ‘Robustness of structures' has started in 2007...... by a group of members of the CSS. This paper describes the ongoing work in this action, with emphasis on the development of a theoretical and risk based quantification and optimization procedure on the one side and a practical pre-normative guideline on the other....

  12. Bio-Inspired Microsystem for Robust Genetic Assay Recognition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jaw-Chyng Lue

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available A compact integrated system-on-chip (SoC architecture solution for robust, real-time, and on-site genetic analysis has been proposed. This microsystem solution is noise-tolerable and suitable for analyzing the weak fluorescence patterns from a PCR prepared dual-labeled DNA microchip assay. In the architecture, a preceding VLSI differential logarithm microchip is designed for effectively computing the logarithm of the normalized input fluorescence signals. A posterior VLSI artificial neural network (ANN processor chip is used for analyzing the processed signals from the differential logarithm stage. A single-channel logarithmic circuit was fabricated and characterized. A prototype ANN chip with unsupervised winner-take-all (WTA function was designed, fabricated, and tested. An ANN learning algorithm using a novel sigmoid-logarithmic transfer function based on the supervised backpropagation (BP algorithm is proposed for robustly recognizing low-intensity patterns. Our results show that the trained new ANN can recognize low-fluorescence patterns better than an ANN using the conventional sigmoid function.

  13. Semi-automated Robust Quantification of Lesions (SRQL Toolbox

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kaori L Ito

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Quantifying lesions in a reliable manner is fundamental for studying the effects of neuroanatomical changes related to recovery in the post-stroke brain. However, the wide variability in lesion characteristics across individuals makes manual lesion segmentation a challenging and often subjective process. This often makes it difficult to combine stroke lesion data across multiple research sites, due to subjective differences in how lesions may be defined. Thus, we developed the Semi-automated Robust Quantification of Lesions (SRQL; https://github.com/npnl/SRQL; DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.557114 Toolbox that performs several analysis steps: 1 a white matter intensity correction that removes healthy white matter voxels from the lesion mask, thereby making lesions slightly more robust to subjective errors; 2 an automated report of descriptive statistics on lesions for simplified comparison between or across groups, and 3 an option to perform analyses in both native and standard space to facilitate analyses in either space. Here, we describe the methods implemented in the toolbox.

  14. Robustness of Structures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2008-01-01

    This paper describes the background of the robustness requirements implemented in the Danish Code of Practice for Safety of Structures and in the Danish National Annex to the Eurocode 0, see (DS-INF 146, 2003), (DS 409, 2006), (EN 1990 DK NA, 2007) and (Sørensen and Christensen, 2006). More...... frequent use of advanced types of structures with limited redundancy and serious consequences in case of failure combined with increased requirements to efficiency in design and execution followed by increased risk of human errors has made the need of requirements to robustness of new structures essential....... According to Danish design rules robustness shall be documented for all structures in high consequence class. The design procedure to document sufficient robustness consists of: 1) Review of loads and possible failure modes / scenarios and determination of acceptable collapse extent; 2) Review...

  15. Dynamics robustness of cascading systems.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jonathan T Young

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available A most important property of biochemical systems is robustness. Static robustness, e.g., homeostasis, is the insensitivity of a state against perturbations, whereas dynamics robustness, e.g., homeorhesis, is the insensitivity of a dynamic process. In contrast to the extensively studied static robustness, dynamics robustness, i.e., how a system creates an invariant temporal profile against perturbations, is little explored despite transient dynamics being crucial for cellular fates and are reported to be robust experimentally. For example, the duration of a stimulus elicits different phenotypic responses, and signaling networks process and encode temporal information. Hence, robustness in time courses will be necessary for functional biochemical networks. Based on dynamical systems theory, we uncovered a general mechanism to achieve dynamics robustness. Using a three-stage linear signaling cascade as an example, we found that the temporal profiles and response duration post-stimulus is robust to perturbations against certain parameters. Then analyzing the linearized model, we elucidated the criteria of when signaling cascades will display dynamics robustness. We found that changes in the upstream modules are masked in the cascade, and that the response duration is mainly controlled by the rate-limiting module and organization of the cascade's kinetics. Specifically, we found two necessary conditions for dynamics robustness in signaling cascades: 1 Constraint on the rate-limiting process: The phosphatase activity in the perturbed module is not the slowest. 2 Constraints on the initial conditions: The kinase activity needs to be fast enough such that each module is saturated even with fast phosphatase activity and upstream changes are attenuated. We discussed the relevance of such robustness to several biological examples and the validity of the above conditions therein. Given the applicability of dynamics robustness to a variety of systems, it

  16. Robust and distributed hypothesis testing

    CERN Document Server

    Gül, Gökhan

    2017-01-01

    This book generalizes and extends the available theory in robust and decentralized hypothesis testing. In particular, it presents a robust test for modeling errors which is independent from the assumptions that a sufficiently large number of samples is available, and that the distance is the KL-divergence. Here, the distance can be chosen from a much general model, which includes the KL-divergence as a very special case. This is then extended by various means. A minimax robust test that is robust against both outliers as well as modeling errors is presented. Minimax robustness properties of the given tests are also explicitly proven for fixed sample size and sequential probability ratio tests. The theory of robust detection is extended to robust estimation and the theory of robust distributed detection is extended to classes of distributions, which are not necessarily stochastically bounded. It is shown that the quantization functions for the decision rules can also be chosen as non-monotone. Finally, the boo...

  17. Robustness Property of Robust-BD Wald-Type Test for Varying-Dimensional General Linear Models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiao Guo

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available An important issue for robust inference is to examine the stability of the asymptotic level and power of the test statistic in the presence of contaminated data. Most existing results are derived in finite-dimensional settings with some particular choices of loss functions. This paper re-examines this issue by allowing for a diverging number of parameters combined with a broader array of robust error measures, called “robust- BD ”, for the class of “general linear models”. Under regularity conditions, we derive the influence function of the robust- BD parameter estimator and demonstrate that the robust- BD Wald-type test enjoys the robustness of validity and efficiency asymptotically. Specifically, the asymptotic level of the test is stable under a small amount of contamination of the null hypothesis, whereas the asymptotic power is large enough under a contaminated distribution in a neighborhood of the contiguous alternatives, thus lending supports to the utility of the proposed robust- BD Wald-type test.

  18. Robustness Beamforming Algorithms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sajad Dehghani

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Adaptive beamforming methods are known to degrade in the presence of steering vector and covariance matrix uncertinity. In this paper, a new approach is presented to robust adaptive minimum variance distortionless response beamforming make robust against both uncertainties in steering vector and covariance matrix. This method minimize a optimization problem that contains a quadratic objective function and a quadratic constraint. The optimization problem is nonconvex but is converted to a convex optimization problem in this paper. It is solved by the interior-point method and optimum weight vector to robust beamforming is achieved.

  19. Traffic Light Protocol for Induced Seismicity: What is the Best Strategy?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kao, H.; Mahani, A. B.; Atkinson, G. M.; Eaton, D. W. S.; Maxwell, S.

    2015-12-01

    In response to the occurrence of relatively large (and felt) earthquakes that are potentially induced by man-made activities, there is an increasing trend for the industry and government regulators to include a "traffic light" system in their decision-making process. Despite its tremendous implications to the cost of operations and the protection of public safety, the protocol that defines the different scenarios for different lights ("green", "yellow", or "red") has not been thoroughly validated to truly reflect the associated seismic risk. Most government regulators adopt a traffic light protocol (TLP) that depends on the magnitude of the earthquake of interest and sometimes felt reports from local communities. It is well known that the estimate of an earthquake's magnitude can have some uncertainty. While an uncertainty of +/-0.2 in magnitude is understandable and generally accepted by the seismological community, it can create a serious problem when the value of magnitude is the predominant factor in the TLP for induced seismicity. Recent examples of magnitude 4 and larger earthquakes in northeast BC and western AB that are possibly induced by shale gas hydraulic fracturing have demonstrated vividly the possible deficiency of existing TLP for induced seismicity. From the viewpoint of mitigating seismic risk, we argue that a ground-motion based TLP should be more effective than a magnitude-based approach. A workshop with representatives from government agencies, the industry, and the academia will be held to review the deficiency of the current TLP for induced seismicity and to explore innovative ways of improvement. The ultimate goal of the TLP for induced seismicity is to reach a balance between the protection of public safety and the economic benefit of developing natural resources In this presentation, main conclusions of this workshop will be presented.

  20. Relationship between adiponectin, leptin, IGF-1 and total lipid peroxides plasma concentrations in patients with systemic sclerosis: possible role in disease development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winsz-Szczotka, Katarzyna; Kuźnik-Trocha, Kornelia; Komosińska-Vassev, Katarzyna; Kucharz, Eugeniusz; Kotulska, Anna; Olczyk, Krystyna

    2016-07-01

    The relationship between adiponectin, leptin, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and total lipid peroxide (TLP) concentrations, and its possible role in the development of diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (dcSSc), were evaluated in this study. Plasma adipokines and IGF-1 levels were determined using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method, whereas TLP levels were determined using a photometric test, in 36 dcSSc patients and 40 healthy controls matched by age, sex and body mass index (BMI). Plasma levels of adipokines were significantly lowered, while TLP and IGF-1 were increased in dcSSc patients compared to controls. Adiponectin correlated significantly with leptin (r = 0.44), TLP (r = -0.54), CRP (r = -0.47), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) (r = -0.40) and duration of disease (r = -0.44). A significant relationship was found between leptinemia and IGF-1 (r = -0.40), TLP (r = 0.44), duration of disease (r = -0.38) and BMI (r = 0.65). TLP correlated with IGF-1 (r = -0.43), C-reactive protein (r = 0.47), ESR (r = 0.49) and duration of disease (r = 0.46), while IGF-1 correlated with ESR (r = -0.40). Adipose tissue may play a complex role in the development of dcSSc, affecting both the metabolic state of the organism, as well as free radical-induced connective tissue degradation. Although, leptin seems to exert a pro-oxidative effect and both adiponectin and IGF-1 appear to prevent free radical damage, confirmation of the above effects requires further research. © 2014 Asia Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology and Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

  1. Robustness Analyses of Timber Structures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kirkegaard, Poul Henning; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard; Hald, Frederik

    2013-01-01

    The robustness of structural systems has obtained a renewed interest arising from a much more frequent use of advanced types of structures with limited redundancy and serious consequences in case of failure. In order to minimise the likelihood of such disproportionate structural failures, many mo...... with respect to robustness of timber structures and will discuss the consequences of such robustness issues related to the future development of timber structures.......The robustness of structural systems has obtained a renewed interest arising from a much more frequent use of advanced types of structures with limited redundancy and serious consequences in case of failure. In order to minimise the likelihood of such disproportionate structural failures, many...... modern building codes consider the need for the robustness of structures and provide strategies and methods to obtain robustness. Therefore, a structural engineer may take necessary steps to design robust structures that are insensitive to accidental circumstances. The present paper summaries issues...

  2. Robust Bioinformatics Recognition with VLSI Biochip Microsystem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lue, Jaw-Chyng L.; Fang, Wai-Chi

    2006-01-01

    A microsystem architecture for real-time, on-site, robust bioinformatic patterns recognition and analysis has been proposed. This system is compatible with on-chip DNA analysis means such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR)amplification. A corresponding novel artificial neural network (ANN) learning algorithm using new sigmoid-logarithmic transfer function based on error backpropagation (EBP) algorithm is invented. Our results show the trained new ANN can recognize low fluorescence patterns better than the conventional sigmoidal ANN does. A differential logarithmic imaging chip is designed for calculating logarithm of relative intensities of fluorescence signals. The single-rail logarithmic circuit and a prototype ANN chip are designed, fabricated and characterized.

  3. Planning for robust reserve networks using uncertainty analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moilanen, A.; Runge, M.C.; Elith, Jane; Tyre, A.; Carmel, Y.; Fegraus, E.; Wintle, B.A.; Burgman, M.; Ben-Haim, Y.

    2006-01-01

    Planning land-use for biodiversity conservation frequently involves computer-assisted reserve selection algorithms. Typically such algorithms operate on matrices of species presence?absence in sites, or on species-specific distributions of model predicted probabilities of occurrence in grid cells. There are practically always errors in input data?erroneous species presence?absence data, structural and parametric uncertainty in predictive habitat models, and lack of correspondence between temporal presence and long-run persistence. Despite these uncertainties, typical reserve selection methods proceed as if there is no uncertainty in the data or models. Having two conservation options of apparently equal biological value, one would prefer the option whose value is relatively insensitive to errors in planning inputs. In this work we show how uncertainty analysis for reserve planning can be implemented within a framework of information-gap decision theory, generating reserve designs that are robust to uncertainty. Consideration of uncertainty involves modifications to the typical objective functions used in reserve selection. Search for robust-optimal reserve structures can still be implemented via typical reserve selection optimization techniques, including stepwise heuristics, integer-programming and stochastic global search.

  4. International Conference on Robust Statistics

    CERN Document Server

    Filzmoser, Peter; Gather, Ursula; Rousseeuw, Peter

    2003-01-01

    Aspects of Robust Statistics are important in many areas. Based on the International Conference on Robust Statistics 2001 (ICORS 2001) in Vorau, Austria, this volume discusses future directions of the discipline, bringing together leading scientists, experienced researchers and practitioners, as well as younger researchers. The papers cover a multitude of different aspects of Robust Statistics. For instance, the fundamental problem of data summary (weights of evidence) is considered and its robustness properties are studied. Further theoretical subjects include e.g.: robust methods for skewness, time series, longitudinal data, multivariate methods, and tests. Some papers deal with computational aspects and algorithms. Finally, the aspects of application and programming tools complete the volume.

  5. Robust Scientists

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gorm Hansen, Birgitte

    their core i nterests, 2) developing a selfsupply of industry interests by becoming entrepreneurs and thus creating their own compliant industry partner and 3) balancing resources within a larger collective of researchers, thus countering changes in the influx of funding caused by shifts in political...... knowledge", Danish research policy seems to have helped develop politically and economically "robust scientists". Scientific robustness is acquired by way of three strategies: 1) tasting and discriminating between resources so as to avoid funding that erodes academic profiles and push scientists away from...

  6. Robust Trust in Expert Testimony

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christian Dahlman

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available The standard of proof in criminal trials should require that the evidence presented by the prosecution is robust. This requirement of robustness says that it must be unlikely that additional information would change the probability that the defendant is guilty. Robustness is difficult for a judge to estimate, as it requires the judge to assess the possible effect of information that the he or she does not have. This article is concerned with expert witnesses and proposes a method for reviewing the robustness of expert testimony. According to the proposed method, the robustness of expert testimony is estimated with regard to competence, motivation, external strength, internal strength and relevance. The danger of trusting non-robust expert testimony is illustrated with an analysis of the Thomas Quick Case, a Swedish legal scandal where a patient at a mental institution was wrongfully convicted for eight murders.

  7. Robustness Analysis of Timber Truss Structure

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rajčić, Vlatka; Čizmar, Dean; Kirkegaard, Poul Henning

    2010-01-01

    The present paper discusses robustness of structures in general and the robustness requirements given in the codes. Robustness of timber structures is also an issues as this is closely related to Working group 3 (Robustness of systems) of the COST E55 project. Finally, an example of a robustness...... evaluation of a widespan timber truss structure is presented. This structure was built few years ago near Zagreb and has a span of 45m. Reliability analysis of the main members and the system is conducted and based on this a robustness analysis is preformed....

  8. On multi-site damage identification using single-site training data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barthorpe, R. J.; Manson, G.; Worden, K.

    2017-11-01

    This paper proposes a methodology for developing multi-site damage location systems for engineering structures that can be trained using single-site damaged state data only. The methodology involves training a sequence of binary classifiers based upon single-site damage data and combining the developed classifiers into a robust multi-class damage locator. In this way, the multi-site damage identification problem may be decomposed into a sequence of binary decisions. In this paper Support Vector Classifiers are adopted as the means of making these binary decisions. The proposed methodology represents an advancement on the state of the art in the field of multi-site damage identification which require either: (1) full damaged state data from single- and multi-site damage cases or (2) the development of a physics-based model to make multi-site model predictions. The potential benefit of the proposed methodology is that a significantly reduced number of recorded damage states may be required in order to train a multi-site damage locator without recourse to physics-based model predictions. In this paper it is first demonstrated that Support Vector Classification represents an appropriate approach to the multi-site damage location problem, with methods for combining binary classifiers discussed. Next, the proposed methodology is demonstrated and evaluated through application to a real engineering structure - a Piper Tomahawk trainer aircraft wing - with its performance compared to classifiers trained using the full damaged-state dataset.

  9. Qualitative Robustness in Estimation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammed Nasser

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} Qualitative robustness, influence function, and breakdown point are three main concepts to judge an estimator from the viewpoint of robust estimation. It is important as well as interesting to study relation among them. This article attempts to present the concept of qualitative robustness as forwarded by first proponents and its later development. It illustrates intricacies of qualitative robustness and its relation with consistency, and also tries to remove commonly believed misunderstandings about relation between influence function and qualitative robustness citing some examples from literature and providing a new counter-example. At the end it places a useful finite and a simulated version of   qualitative robustness index (QRI. In order to assess the performance of the proposed measures, we have compared fifteen estimators of correlation coefficient using simulated as well as real data sets.

  10. Robustness in econometrics

    CERN Document Server

    Sriboonchitta, Songsak; Huynh, Van-Nam

    2017-01-01

    This book presents recent research on robustness in econometrics. Robust data processing techniques – i.e., techniques that yield results minimally affected by outliers – and their applications to real-life economic and financial situations are the main focus of this book. The book also discusses applications of more traditional statistical techniques to econometric problems. Econometrics is a branch of economics that uses mathematical (especially statistical) methods to analyze economic systems, to forecast economic and financial dynamics, and to develop strategies for achieving desirable economic performance. In day-by-day data, we often encounter outliers that do not reflect the long-term economic trends, e.g., unexpected and abrupt fluctuations. As such, it is important to develop robust data processing techniques that can accommodate these fluctuations.

  11. Robust Programming by Example

    OpenAIRE

    Bishop , Matt; Elliott , Chip

    2011-01-01

    Part 2: WISE 7; International audience; Robust programming lies at the heart of the type of coding called “secure programming”. Yet it is rarely taught in academia. More commonly, the focus is on how to avoid creating well-known vulnerabilities. While important, that misses the point: a well-structured, robust program should anticipate where problems might arise and compensate for them. This paper discusses one view of robust programming and gives an example of how it may be taught.

  12. Robust Reliability or reliable robustness? - Integrated consideration of robustness and reliability aspects

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kemmler, S.; Eifler, Tobias; Bertsche, B.

    2015-01-01

    products are and vice versa. For a comprehensive understanding and to use existing synergies between both domains, this paper discusses the basic principles of Reliability- and Robust Design theory. The development of a comprehensive model will enable an integrated consideration of both domains...

  13. Assessing climate change-robustness of protected area management plans-The case of Germany.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Geyer, Juliane; Kreft, Stefan; Jeltsch, Florian; Ibisch, Pierre L

    2017-01-01

    Protected areas are arguably the most important instrument of biodiversity conservation. To keep them fit under climate change, their management needs to be adapted to address related direct and indirect changes. In our study we focus on the adaptation of conservation management planning, evaluating management plans of 60 protected areas throughout Germany with regard to their climate change-robustness. First, climate change-robust conservation management was defined using 11 principles and 44 criteria, which followed an approach similar to sustainability standards. We then evaluated the performance of individual management plans concerning the climate change-robustness framework. We found that climate change-robustness of protected areas hardly exceeded 50 percent of the potential performance, with most plans ranking in the lower quarter. Most Natura 2000 protected areas, established under conservation legislation of the European Union, belong to the sites with especially poor performance, with lower values in smaller areas. In general, the individual principles showed very different rates of accordance with our principles, but similarly low intensity. Principles with generally higher performance values included holistic knowledge management, public accountability and acceptance as well as systemic and strategic coherence. Deficiencies were connected to dealing with the future and uncertainty. Lastly, we recommended the presented principles and criteria as essential guideposts that can be used as a checklist for working towards more climate change-robust planning.

  14. Assessing climate change-robustness of protected area management plans—The case of Germany

    Science.gov (United States)

    Geyer, Juliane; Kreft, Stefan; Jeltsch, Florian; Ibisch, Pierre L.

    2017-01-01

    Protected areas are arguably the most important instrument of biodiversity conservation. To keep them fit under climate change, their management needs to be adapted to address related direct and indirect changes. In our study we focus on the adaptation of conservation management planning, evaluating management plans of 60 protected areas throughout Germany with regard to their climate change-robustness. First, climate change-robust conservation management was defined using 11 principles and 44 criteria, which followed an approach similar to sustainability standards. We then evaluated the performance of individual management plans concerning the climate change-robustness framework. We found that climate change-robustness of protected areas hardly exceeded 50 percent of the potential performance, with most plans ranking in the lower quarter. Most Natura 2000 protected areas, established under conservation legislation of the European Union, belong to the sites with especially poor performance, with lower values in smaller areas. In general, the individual principles showed very different rates of accordance with our principles, but similarly low intensity. Principles with generally higher performance values included holistic knowledge management, public accountability and acceptance as well as systemic and strategic coherence. Deficiencies were connected to dealing with the future and uncertainty. Lastly, we recommended the presented principles and criteria as essential guideposts that can be used as a checklist for working towards more climate change-robust planning. PMID:28982187

  15. Robust

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    2017-01-01

    Robust – Reflections on Resilient Architecture’, is a scientific publication following the conference of the same name in November of 2017. Researches and PhD-Fellows, associated with the Masters programme: Cultural Heritage, Transformation and Restoration (Transformation), at The Royal Danish...

  16. Towards sustainable and robust on-site domestic wastewater treatment for all citizens

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mgana, S.

    2003-01-01

    In most developing countries commonly practiced domestic wastewater treatment systems predominantly constitute anaerobic treatment process. The anaerobic treatment units mostly installed are on-site at residential dwellings.

    However the commonly installed units, viz., traditional pit

  17. Robustness in Railway Operations (RobustRailS)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Jens Parbo; Nielsen, Otto Anker

    This study considers the problem of enhancing railway timetable robustness without adding slack time, hence increasing the travel time. The approach integrates a transit assignment model to assess how passengers adapt their behaviour whenever operations are changed. First, the approach considers...

  18. Robust PV Degradation Methodology and Application

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jordan, Dirk [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Deline, Christopher A [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Kurtz, Sarah [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Kimball, Greg [SunPower; Anderson, Mike [SunPower

    2017-11-15

    The degradation rate plays an important role in predicting and assessing the long-term energy generation of PV systems. Many methods have been proposed for extracting the degradation rate from operational data of PV systems, but most of the published approaches are susceptible to bias due to inverter clipping, module soiling, temporary outages, seasonality, and sensor degradation. In this manuscript, we propose a methodology for determining PV degradation leveraging available modeled clear-sky irradiance data rather than site sensor data, and a robust year-over-year (YOY) rate calculation. We show the method to provide reliable degradation rate estimates even in the case of sensor drift, data shifts, and soiling. Compared with alternate methods, we demonstrate that the proposed method delivers the lowest uncertainty in degradation rate estimates for a fleet of 486 PV systems.

  19. TLP bonding of dissimilar FSX-414/IN-738 system with MBF-80 interlayer: The effect of homogenizing treatment on microstructure and mechanical properties

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abbasi-Khazaei, Bijan; Jahanbakhsh, Abbas; Bakhtiari, Reza

    2016-01-01

    In the present work, the effect of homogenizing time and temperature on the mechanical properties and microstructural evaluation of dissimilar IN-738/MBF-80/FSX-414 TLP joints was studied. The joints were made at the optimum bonding temperature of 1150 °C and homogenized at 1175, 1200 and 1225 °C for 1–6 h. Light and electron microscopes were used to investigate the microstructure. To study the hardness and alloying elements concentration profiles across the joints, the microhardness test and Wave length-Dispersive x-ray Spectroscopy (WDS) analysis were used, respectively. x-Ray Diffraction was used for identification of the phases. Shear tests were performed to measure shear strength of the joints. The results showed that, after homogenizing treatment at 1200 °C for 3 h, undesirable phases in the joint region were eliminated markedly while these phases were stable after 1 h homogenizing at the same temperature. Recrystalization at the joint region close to the FSX-414 base metal was seen at this temperature. At the same region, homogenizing treatment at 1225 °C led to intercellular carbide dissolving and recrystallization. At this temperature, grain boundaries liquation and precipitation coarsening occurred. The results of shear tests showed that, the shear strength of the joints was enhanced by about twice after homogenizing at 1200 °C in respect to the as-bonded samples. - Highlights: • Homogenizing temperature of 1175 °C was not sufficient to remove undesirable phases such as carbides and borides in DAZ of FSX-414 half. • Undesirable phases at the joints were eliminated markedly after homogenizing at 1200 °C for 3 h. • Carbide dissolving, recrystallization, partially melting and precipitation coarsening occurred in the base metal and at the joints during homogenizing at 1225 °C. • Chromium and cobalt borides of Cr_2B, CoB and Co_4B were formed in the bonding surface of the FSX-414 half during homogenizing at 1225 °C. • Maximum shear

  20. Robust statistical methods with R

    CERN Document Server

    Jureckova, Jana

    2005-01-01

    Robust statistical methods were developed to supplement the classical procedures when the data violate classical assumptions. They are ideally suited to applied research across a broad spectrum of study, yet most books on the subject are narrowly focused, overly theoretical, or simply outdated. Robust Statistical Methods with R provides a systematic treatment of robust procedures with an emphasis on practical application.The authors work from underlying mathematical tools to implementation, paying special attention to the computational aspects. They cover the whole range of robust methods, including differentiable statistical functions, distance of measures, influence functions, and asymptotic distributions, in a rigorous yet approachable manner. Highlighting hands-on problem solving, many examples and computational algorithms using the R software supplement the discussion. The book examines the characteristics of robustness, estimators of real parameter, large sample properties, and goodness-of-fit tests. It...

  1. Robust Manufacturing Control

    CERN Document Server

    2013-01-01

    This contributed volume collects research papers, presented at the CIRP Sponsored Conference Robust Manufacturing Control: Innovative and Interdisciplinary Approaches for Global Networks (RoMaC 2012, Jacobs University, Bremen, Germany, June 18th-20th 2012). These research papers present the latest developments and new ideas focusing on robust manufacturing control for global networks. Today, Global Production Networks (i.e. the nexus of interconnected material and information flows through which products and services are manufactured, assembled and distributed) are confronted with and expected to adapt to: sudden and unpredictable large-scale changes of important parameters which are occurring more and more frequently, event propagation in networks with high degree of interconnectivity which leads to unforeseen fluctuations, and non-equilibrium states which increasingly characterize daily business. These multi-scale changes deeply influence logistic target achievement and call for robust planning and control ...

  2. Reliable and repeatable bonding technology for high temperature automotive power modules for electrified vehicles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yoon, Sang Won; Shiozaki, Koji; Glover, Michael D; Mantooth, H Alan

    2013-01-01

    This paper presents the feasibility of highly reliable and repeatable copper–tin transient liquid phase (Cu–Sn TLP) bonding as applied to die attachment in high temperature operational power modules. Electrified vehicles are attracting particular interest as eco-friendly vehicles, but their power modules are challenged because of increasing power densities which lead to high temperatures. Such high temperature operation addresses the importance of advanced bonding technology that is highly reliable (for high temperature operation) and repeatable (for fabrication of advanced structures). Cu–Sn TLP bonding is employed herein because of its high remelting temperature and desirable thermal and electrical conductivities. The bonding starts with a stack of Cu–Sn–Cu metal layers that eventually transforms to Cu–Sn alloys. As the alloys have melting temperatures (Cu 3 Sn: > 600 °C, Cu 6 Sn 5 : > 400 °C) significantly higher than the process temperature, the process can be repeated without damaging previously bonded layers. A Cu–Sn TLP bonding process was developed using thin Sn metal sheets inserted between copper layers on silicon die and direct bonded copper substrates, emulating the process used to construct automotive power modules. Bond quality is characterized using (1) proof-of-concept fabrication, (2) material identification using scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy analysis, and (3) optical analysis using optical microscopy and scanning acoustic microscope. The feasibility of multiple-sided Cu–Sn TLP bonding is demonstrated by the absence of bondline damage in multiple test samples fabricated with double- or four-sided bonding using the TLP bonding process. (paper)

  3. Robustness - theoretical framework

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, John Dalsgaard; Rizzuto, Enrico; Faber, Michael H.

    2010-01-01

    More frequent use of advanced types of structures with limited redundancy and serious consequences in case of failure combined with increased requirements to efficiency in design and execution followed by increased risk of human errors has made the need of requirements to robustness of new struct...... of this fact sheet is to describe a theoretical and risk based framework to form the basis for quantification of robustness and for pre-normative guidelines....

  4. Robustness Assessment of Spatial Timber Structures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kirkegaard, Poul Henning

    2012-01-01

    Robustness of structural systems has obtained a renewed interest due to a much more frequent use of advanced types of structures with limited redundancy and serious consequences in case of failure. In order to minimise the likelihood of such disproportionate structural failures many modern buildi...... to robustness of spatial timber structures and will discuss the consequences of such robustness issues related to the future development of timber structures.......Robustness of structural systems has obtained a renewed interest due to a much more frequent use of advanced types of structures with limited redundancy and serious consequences in case of failure. In order to minimise the likelihood of such disproportionate structural failures many modern building...... codes consider the need for robustness of structures and provide strategies and methods to obtain robustness. Therefore a structural engineer may take necessary steps to design robust structures that are insensitive to accidental circumstances. The present paper summaries issues with respect...

  5. Patterns of persistence with pharmacological treatment among patients with current depressive episode and their impact on long-term outcome: a naturalistic study with 5-year follow-up

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Li K

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Kanglai Li,1,* Jiong Tao,2,* Yuemei Li,3 Minhua Chen,2 Xiuhua Wu,2 Yingtao Liao,2 Xiaolan Lin,4 Zhaoyu Gan2 1Department of Very Important Patient, the 3rd Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Psychiatry, the 3rd Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Obstetrics, Wuzhou Gongren Hospital, Wuzhou, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Infectious Diseases, the 3rd Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: The aim of the study was to describe and compare the patterns of medication persistence among patients with unipolar depression (UD or bipolar depression in a 5-year follow-up, and explore their impact on long-term outcome. Patients and methods: A total of 333 eligible patients with current major depressive episode were observed and followed up from the first index prescription for 5 years. Lack of persistence or treatment interruption was defined as a gap of at least 2 consecutive months without taking any medication. Time to lack of persistence in the first (TLP1 and the second (TLP2 episode of treatment, number of visits before the first treatment interruption (NV and number of treatment interruptions (NTI were measured. Results: During the 5-year follow-up, nearly 50% of patients experienced at least two times of treatment interruption. Pattern of medication persistence did not significantly differ between UD and bipolar disorder (BD patients. TLP1 was positively associated with TLP2. Shorter TLP1 predicted a higher possibility of subsequent visits because of recurrence or relapse and more NTI meant a lower likelihood of achieving full remission in the fifth year for both UD and BD patients. For UD patients, shorter TLP1 or less NV predicted a lower chance of achieving remission, while for BD patients

  6. A Comparative Theoretical and Computational Study on Robust Counterpart Optimization: I. Robust Linear Optimization and Robust Mixed Integer Linear Optimization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Zukui; Ding, Ran; Floudas, Christodoulos A.

    2011-01-01

    Robust counterpart optimization techniques for linear optimization and mixed integer linear optimization problems are studied in this paper. Different uncertainty sets, including those studied in literature (i.e., interval set; combined interval and ellipsoidal set; combined interval and polyhedral set) and new ones (i.e., adjustable box; pure ellipsoidal; pure polyhedral; combined interval, ellipsoidal, and polyhedral set) are studied in this work and their geometric relationship is discussed. For uncertainty in the left hand side, right hand side, and objective function of the optimization problems, robust counterpart optimization formulations induced by those different uncertainty sets are derived. Numerical studies are performed to compare the solutions of the robust counterpart optimization models and applications in refinery production planning and batch process scheduling problem are presented. PMID:21935263

  7. Sprayed skin turbine component

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, David B

    2013-06-04

    Fabricating a turbine component (50) by casting a core structure (30), forming an array of pits (24) in an outer surface (32) of the core structure, depositing a transient liquid phase (TLP) material (40) on the outer surface of the core structure, the TLP containing a melting-point depressant, depositing a skin (42) on the outer surface of the core structure over the TLP material, and heating the assembly, thus forming both a diffusion bond and a mechanical interlock between the skin and the core structure. The heating diffuses the melting-point depressant away from the interface. Subsurface cooling channels (35) may be formed by forming grooves (34) in the outer surface of the core structure, filling the grooves with a fugitive filler (36), depositing and bonding the skin (42), then removing the fugitive material.

  8. Robust procedures in chemometrics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kotwa, Ewelina

    properties of the analysed data. The broad theoretical background of robust procedures was given as a very useful supplement to the classical methods, and a new tool, based on robust PCA, aiming at identifying Rayleigh and Raman scatters in excitation-mission (EEM) data was developed. The results show...

  9. Robust canonical correlations: A comparative study

    OpenAIRE

    Branco, JA; Croux, Christophe; Filzmoser, P; Oliveira, MR

    2005-01-01

    Several approaches for robust canonical correlation analysis will be presented and discussed. A first method is based on the definition of canonical correlation analysis as looking for linear combinations of two sets of variables having maximal (robust) correlation. A second method is based on alternating robust regressions. These methods axe discussed in detail and compared with the more traditional approach to robust canonical correlation via covariance matrix estimates. A simulation study ...

  10. Walking the cod: an investigation into the relative robustness of cod, Gadus morhua, skeletal elements

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrew K.G. Jones

    1999-12-01

    Full Text Available A simple experiment is described which details what happens to the bones of cod when they are walked on by a man. The pattern of fragmentation for various elements is illustrated and an index of robustness proposed for those elements in a cod skeleton most frequently recovered from archaeological sites.

  11. Siting Practices and Site Licensing Process for New Reactors in Canada

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vos, Marcel de

    2011-01-01

    'Siting' in Canada is composed of Site Evaluation and Site Selection. As outlined in CNSC Regulatory Document RD-346 Site Evaluation for New Nuclear Power Plants (based on IAEA NS-R-3), prior to the triggering of the Environmental Assessment (EA) and licensing processes, the proponent is expected to use a robust process to characterize proposed sites over the full life cycle of the facility, and then develop a fully documented defense of the site selection case. This case forms the backbone for submissions in support of the EA and the application for a License to Prepare Site which will be reviewed by the CNSC and other applicable federal authorities. The Environmental Assessment process and License to Prepare Site in Canada do not require a proponent to select a specific design; however, CNSC does not accept a 'black box' approach to siting. CNSC balances the level of design information required with the extent of safety assurance desired for any designs being contemplated for the proposed site. Nevertheless, the design information submitted must be sufficient to justify the site as suitable for all future licensing stages. The depth of plant design information contributes significantly to the credibility of the applicant's case for both the EA and application for License to Prepare Site. The review process utilizes an assessment plan with defined review stages and timelines. The outcome of these reviews is a series of recommendations to a federal government appointed Joint Review Panel (which also serves as a panel of the 'Commission') which, following public hearings, renders a decision regarding the EA, and subsequently, the application for a License to Prepare Site. (author)

  12. Robust plasmonic substrates

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kostiučenko, Oksana; Fiutowski, Jacek; Tamulevicius, Tomas

    2014-01-01

    Robustness is a key issue for the applications of plasmonic substrates such as tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, surface-enhanced spectroscopies, enhanced optical biosensing, optical and optoelectronic plasmonic nanosensors and others. A novel approach for the fabrication of robust plasmonic...... substrates is presented, which relies on the coverage of gold nanostructures with diamond-like carbon (DLC) thin films of thicknesses 25, 55 and 105 nm. DLC thin films were grown by direct hydrocarbon ion beam deposition. In order to find the optimum balance between optical and mechanical properties...

  13. A robust standard deviation control chart

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schoonhoven, M.; Does, R.J.M.M.

    2012-01-01

    This article studies the robustness of Phase I estimators for the standard deviation control chart. A Phase I estimator should be efficient in the absence of contaminations and resistant to disturbances. Most of the robust estimators proposed in the literature are robust against either diffuse

  14. La validez jurídica y el problema del seguimiento de reglas en el positivismo excluyente: Regla de reconocimiento y comunidad

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gianella Bardazano

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available Introducción. Planteo del problema : el derecho como juego de lenguaje. Importancia del problema en la teoría del derecho: el razonamiento judicial. Las reglas juridicas como razones excluyentes para la acción. Las practicas de la comunidadUno de los ejes temáticos que tradicionalmente se han señalado como casos de rupturas entre el Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (TLP y las Investigaciones Filosóficas (IF ha sido oponer la facticidad del significado sostenida en el primero al convencionalismo extremo atribuido a las segundas. En efecto, el TLP es contrario al convencionalismo (y eso es compatible con la facticidad del significado. Ahora bien, es posible sostener que en las IF hay una radicalización de lo anterior, y que la comunidad de hablantes es el factum en cuestión. Sería la facticidad del significado, entonces, un caso de continuidad entre el TLP y las IF. Lo que cambia es la caracterización de ese factum: el significado está dado y su fuente es trascendental (TLP; o bien, el significado viene dado por las prácticas lingüísticas (IF.

  15. Robust intravascular optical coherence elastography by line correlations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Soest, Gijs van; Mastik, Frits; Jong, Nico de; Steen, Anton F W van der

    2007-01-01

    We present a new method for intravascular optical coherence elastography, which is robust against motion artefacts. It employs the correlation between adjacent lines, instead of subsequent frames. Pressure to deform the tissue is applied synchronously with the line scan rate of the optical coherence tomography (OCT) instrument. The viability of the method is demonstrated with a simulation study. We find that the root mean square (rms) error of the displacement estimate is 0.55 μm, and the rms error of the strain is 0.6%. It is shown that high-strain spots in the vessel wall, such as observed at the sites of vulnerable atherosclerotic lesions, can be detected with the technique

  16. Robustness: confronting lessons from physics and biology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lesne, Annick

    2008-11-01

    The term robustness is encountered in very different scientific fields, from engineering and control theory to dynamical systems to biology. The main question addressed herein is whether the notion of robustness and its correlates (stability, resilience, self-organisation) developed in physics are relevant to biology, or whether specific extensions and novel frameworks are required to account for the robustness properties of living systems. To clarify this issue, the different meanings covered by this unique term are discussed; it is argued that they crucially depend on the kind of perturbations that a robust system should by definition withstand. Possible mechanisms underlying robust behaviours are examined, either encountered in all natural systems (symmetries, conservation laws, dynamic stability) or specific to biological systems (feedbacks and regulatory networks). Special attention is devoted to the (sometimes counterintuitive) interrelations between robustness and noise. A distinction between dynamic selection and natural selection in the establishment of a robust behaviour is underlined. It is finally argued that nested notions of robustness, relevant to different time scales and different levels of organisation, allow one to reconcile the seemingly contradictory requirements for robustness and adaptability in living systems.

  17. Ischemia Increases the Twitch Latent Period in the Soleus and Extensor Carpi Radialis Longus Muscles from Adult Rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morales, Camilo; Fierro, Leonardo

    2017-10-01

    Complete ischemia and reperfusion effects on twitch force (∫(F·t)), twitch latent period (TLP), maximal rate of rise of twitch tension (δF/δt) max , and twitch maximum relaxation rate (TMRR) were assessed. We divided 36 adult rats into four groups; two control groups (n = 9), a group undergoing 1 hour of ischemia followed by 1 hour of reperfusion (n = 9), and one group exposed to 2 hours of ischemia followed by 1 hour of reperfusion (n = 9). We have induced twitch contractions every 10 minutes in the soleus and the extensor carpi radialis longus (ECRL). Twitch contractions were recorded and then analyzed for ∫(F·t), TLP, (δF/δt) max , and TMRR. During 1 hour and 40 minutes of ischemia, TLP increased to 179 ± 24% (p values.

  18. High volume medical web sites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elliott, B; Elliott, G

    2000-01-01

    In 1998, 22 million individuals reported surfing the web for medical information, and this number will increase to over 30 million by 2000. Fifteen of the highest volume medical web sites are described in this paper. Sponsorship and/or ownership of the fifteen sites varied. The government sponsors one, and some are the products of well-known educational institutions. One site is supported by a consumer health organization, and the American Medical Association was in the top 15. However, the most common owners are commercial, for-profit businesses. Attributes of the ideal site were categorized, and include a robust privacy and disclosure statement with an emphasis on education and an appropriate role for advertising. The covering of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) should be in a balanced and unbiased manner. There has to be an emphasis on knowledge based evidence as opposed to testimonials, and sources should be timely and reviewed. Bibliographies of authors need to be available. Hyperlinking to other web resources is valuable, as even the largest of sites cannot come close to covering all of medicine.

  19. Robust AIC with High Breakdown Scale Estimate

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shokrya Saleh

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Akaike Information Criterion (AIC based on least squares (LS regression minimizes the sum of the squared residuals; LS is sensitive to outlier observations. Alternative criterion, which is less sensitive to outlying observation, has been proposed; examples are robust AIC (RAIC, robust Mallows Cp (RCp, and robust Bayesian information criterion (RBIC. In this paper, we propose a robust AIC by replacing the scale estimate with a high breakdown point estimate of scale. The robustness of the proposed methods is studied through its influence function. We show that, the proposed robust AIC is effective in selecting accurate models in the presence of outliers and high leverage points, through simulated and real data examples.

  20. Methodology in robust and nonparametric statistics

    CERN Document Server

    Jurecková, Jana; Picek, Jan

    2012-01-01

    Introduction and SynopsisIntroductionSynopsisPreliminariesIntroductionInference in Linear ModelsRobustness ConceptsRobust and Minimax Estimation of LocationClippings from Probability and Asymptotic TheoryProblemsRobust Estimation of Location and RegressionIntroductionM-EstimatorsL-EstimatorsR-EstimatorsMinimum Distance and Pitman EstimatorsDifferentiable Statistical FunctionsProblemsAsymptotic Representations for L-Estimators

  1. Robust Approaches to Forecasting

    OpenAIRE

    Jennifer Castle; David Hendry; Michael P. Clements

    2014-01-01

    We investigate alternative robust approaches to forecasting, using a new class of robust devices, contrasted with equilibrium correction models. Their forecasting properties are derived facing a range of likely empirical problems at the forecast origin, including measurement errors, implulses, omitted variables, unanticipated location shifts and incorrectly included variables that experience a shift. We derive the resulting forecast biases and error variances, and indicate when the methods ar...

  2. Theoretical Framework for Robustness Evaluation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2011-01-01

    This paper presents a theoretical framework for evaluation of robustness of structural systems, incl. bridges and buildings. Typically modern structural design codes require that ‘the consequence of damages to structures should not be disproportional to the causes of the damages’. However, although...... the importance of robustness for structural design is widely recognized the code requirements are not specified in detail, which makes the practical use difficult. This paper describes a theoretical and risk based framework to form the basis for quantification of robustness and for pre-normative guidelines...

  3. Robust portfolio selection under norm uncertainty

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lei Wang

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract In this paper, we consider the robust portfolio selection problem which has a data uncertainty described by the ( p , w $(p,w$ -norm in the objective function. We show that the robust formulation of this problem is equivalent to a linear optimization problem. Moreover, we present some numerical results concerning our robust portfolio selection problem.

  4. Robustness and structure of complex networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shao, Shuai

    This dissertation covers the two major parts of my PhD research on statistical physics and complex networks: i) modeling a new type of attack -- localized attack, and investigating robustness of complex networks under this type of attack; ii) discovering the clustering structure in complex networks and its influence on the robustness of coupled networks. Complex networks appear in every aspect of our daily life and are widely studied in Physics, Mathematics, Biology, and Computer Science. One important property of complex networks is their robustness under attacks, which depends crucially on the nature of attacks and the structure of the networks themselves. Previous studies have focused on two types of attack: random attack and targeted attack, which, however, are insufficient to describe many real-world damages. Here we propose a new type of attack -- localized attack, and study the robustness of complex networks under this type of attack, both analytically and via simulation. On the other hand, we also study the clustering structure in the network, and its influence on the robustness of a complex network system. In the first part, we propose a theoretical framework to study the robustness of complex networks under localized attack based on percolation theory and generating function method. We investigate the percolation properties, including the critical threshold of the phase transition pc and the size of the giant component Pinfinity. We compare localized attack with random attack and find that while random regular (RR) networks are more robust against localized attack, Erdoḧs-Renyi (ER) networks are equally robust under both types of attacks. As for scale-free (SF) networks, their robustness depends crucially on the degree exponent lambda. The simulation results show perfect agreement with theoretical predictions. We also test our model on two real-world networks: a peer-to-peer computer network and an airline network, and find that the real-world networks

  5. Signaling mechanisms underlying the robustness and tunability of the plant immune network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Yungil; Tsuda, Kenichi; Igarashi, Daisuke; Hillmer, Rachel A.; Sakakibara, Hitoshi; Myers, Chad L.; Katagiri, Fumiaki

    2014-01-01

    Summary How does robust and tunable behavior emerge in a complex biological network? We sought to understand this for the signaling network controlling pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) in Arabidopsis. A dynamic network model containing four major signaling sectors, the jasmonate, ethylene, PAD4, and salicylate sectors, which together explain up to 80% of the PTI level, was built using data for dynamic sector activities and PTI levels under exhaustive combinatorial sector perturbations. Our regularized multiple regression model had a high level of predictive power and captured known and unexpected signal flows in the network. The sole inhibitory sector in the model, the ethylene sector, was central to the network robustness via its inhibition of the jasmonate sector. The model's multiple input sites linked specific signal input patterns varying in strength and timing to different network response patterns, indicating a mechanism enabling tunability. PMID:24439900

  6. Robustness Recipes for Minimax Robust Optimization in Intensity Modulated Proton Therapy for Oropharyngeal Cancer Patients

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Voort, Sebastian van der [Department of Radiation Oncology, Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, Rotterdam (Netherlands); Section of Nuclear Energy and Radiation Applications, Department of Radiation, Science and Technology, Delft University of Technology, Delft (Netherlands); Water, Steven van de [Department of Radiation Oncology, Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, Rotterdam (Netherlands); Perkó, Zoltán [Section of Nuclear Energy and Radiation Applications, Department of Radiation, Science and Technology, Delft University of Technology, Delft (Netherlands); Heijmen, Ben [Department of Radiation Oncology, Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, Rotterdam (Netherlands); Lathouwers, Danny [Section of Nuclear Energy and Radiation Applications, Department of Radiation, Science and Technology, Delft University of Technology, Delft (Netherlands); Hoogeman, Mischa, E-mail: m.hoogeman@erasmusmc.nl [Department of Radiation Oncology, Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, Rotterdam (Netherlands)

    2016-05-01

    Purpose: We aimed to derive a “robustness recipe” giving the range robustness (RR) and setup robustness (SR) settings (ie, the error values) that ensure adequate clinical target volume (CTV) coverage in oropharyngeal cancer patients for given gaussian distributions of systematic setup, random setup, and range errors (characterized by standard deviations of Σ, σ, and ρ, respectively) when used in minimax worst-case robust intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT) optimization. Methods and Materials: For the analysis, contoured computed tomography (CT) scans of 9 unilateral and 9 bilateral patients were used. An IMPT plan was considered robust if, for at least 98% of the simulated fractionated treatments, 98% of the CTV received 95% or more of the prescribed dose. For fast assessment of the CTV coverage for given error distributions (ie, different values of Σ, σ, and ρ), polynomial chaos methods were used. Separate recipes were derived for the unilateral and bilateral cases using one patient from each group, and all 18 patients were included in the validation of the recipes. Results: Treatment plans for bilateral cases are intrinsically more robust than those for unilateral cases. The required RR only depends on the ρ, and SR can be fitted by second-order polynomials in Σ and σ. The formulas for the derived robustness recipes are as follows: Unilateral patients need SR = −0.15Σ{sup 2} + 0.27σ{sup 2} + 1.85Σ − 0.06σ + 1.22 and RR=3% for ρ = 1% and ρ = 2%; bilateral patients need SR = −0.07Σ{sup 2} + 0.19σ{sup 2} + 1.34Σ − 0.07σ + 1.17 and RR=3% and 4% for ρ = 1% and 2%, respectively. For the recipe validation, 2 plans were generated for each of the 18 patients corresponding to Σ = σ = 1.5 mm and ρ = 0% and 2%. Thirty-four plans had adequate CTV coverage in 98% or more of the simulated fractionated treatments; the remaining 2 had adequate coverage in 97.8% and 97.9%. Conclusions: Robustness recipes were derived that can

  7. A Site Wide Perspective on Uranium Geochemistry at the Hanford Site

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zachara, John M.; Brown, Christopher F.; Christensen, J. N.; Davis, Jim A.; Dresel, P. Evan; Liu, Chongxuan; Kelly, S. D.; McKinley, James P.; Serne, R. Jeffrey; Um, Wooyong

    2007-10-26

    Uranium (U) is an important risk-driving contaminant at the Hanford Site. Over 200,000 kg have been released to the vadose zone over the course of site operations, and a number of vadose zone and groundwater plumes containing the uranyl cation [UO22+, U(VI)] have been identified. U is recognized to be of moderate-to-high mobility, conditions dependent. The site is currently making decisions on several of these plumes with long-lasting implications, and others are soon to come. Uranium is one of nature’s most intriguing and chemically complex elements. The fate and transport of U(VI) has been studied over the long lifetime of the Hanford Site by various contractors, along with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and its collaborators. Significant research has more recently been contributed by the national scientific community with support from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science through its Environmental Remediation Sciences Division (ERSD). This report represents a first attempt to integrate these findings into a cohesive view of the subsurface geochemistry of U at the Hanford Site. The objective is to inform all interested Hanford parties about the in-ground inventory of U and its geochemical behavior. This report also comments on the prospects for the development of a robust generic model to more accurately forecast future U(VI) migration at different Hanford waste sites, along with further research necessary to reach this goal.

  8. Design and usability evaluation of user-centered and visual-based aids for dietary food measurement on mobile devices in a randomized controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Ying-Chieh; Chen, Chien-Hung; Lee, Chien-Wei; Lin, Yu-Sheng; Chen, Hsin-Yun; Yeh, Jou-Yin; Chiu, Sherry Yueh-Hsia

    2016-12-01

    We designed and developed two interactive apps interfaces for dietary food measurements on mobile devices. The user-centered designs of both the IPI (interactive photo interface) and the SBI (sketching-based interface) were evaluated. Four types of outcomes were assessed to evaluate the usability of mobile devices for dietary measurements, including accuracy, absolute weight differences, and the response time to determine the efficacy of food measurements. The IPI presented users with images of pre-determined portion sizes of a specific food and allowed users to scan and then select the most representative image matching the food that they were measuring. The SBI required users to relate the food shape to a readily available comparator (e.g., credit card) and scribble to shade in the appropriate area. A randomized controlled trial was conducted to evaluate their usability. A total of 108 participants were randomly assigned into the following three groups: the IPI (n=36) and SBI (n=38) experimental groups and the traditional life-size photo (TLP) group as the control. A total of 18 types of food items with 3-4 different weights were randomly selected for assessment by each type. The independent Chi-square test and t-test were performed for the dichotomous and continuous variable analyses, respectively. The total accuracy rates were 66.98%, 44.15%, and 72.06% for the IPI, SBI, and TLP, respectively. No significant difference was observed between the IPI and TLP, regardless of the accuracy proportion or weight differences. The SBI accuracy rates were significantly lower than the IPI and TLP accuracy rates, especially for several spooned, square cube, and sliced pie food items. The time needed to complete the operation assessment by the user was significantly lower for the IPI than for the SBI. Our study corroborates that the user-centered visual-based design of the IPI on a mobile device is comparable the TLP in terms of the usability for dietary food measurements

  9. Plasma polychlorinated biphenyl concentrations and immune function in postmenopausal women

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Spector, June T., E-mail: spectj@uw.edu [Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Washington, 4225 Roosevelt Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105 (United States); Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States); De Roos, Anneclaire J., E-mail: ajd335@drexel.edu [Epidemiology Program, Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Avenue N, P.O. Box 19024, Seattle, WA 98109 (United States); Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States); Ulrich, Cornelia M., E-mail: neli.ulrich@nct-heidelberg.de [Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States); Cancer Prevention Program, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Avenue N, P.O. Box 19024, Seattle, WA 98109 (United States); National Center for Tumor Diseases and German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg (Germany); Sheppard, Lianne, E-mail: sheppard@uw.edu [Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Washington, 4225 Roosevelt Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105 (United States); Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States); Sjoedin, Andreas, E-mail: asjodin@cdc.gov [National Center for Environmental Health, CDC, 4770 Buford Highway NE, Atlanta, GA 30341 (United States); Wener, Mark H., E-mail: wener@u.washington.edu [Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States); Wood, Brent, E-mail: woodbl@u.washington.edu [Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States); and others

    2014-05-01

    Background: Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) exposure has been associated with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in several studies, and the immune system is a potential mediator. Objectives: We analyzed associations of plasma PCBs with immune function measures. We hypothesized that higher plasma PCB concentrations are associated with lower immune function cross-sectionally, and that increases in PCB concentrations over a one year period are associated with decreases in immune function. Methods: Plasma PCB concentrations and immune function [natural killer (NK) cell cytotoxicity and PHA-induced T-lymphocyte proliferation (PHA-TLP)] were measured at baseline and one year in 109 postmenopausal overweight women participating in an exercise intervention study in the Seattle, Washington (USA) area. Mixed models, with adjustment for body mass index and other potential confounders, were used to estimate associations of PCBs with immune function cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Results: Associations of PCBs with immune function measures differed across groups of PCBs (e.g., medium- and high-chlorinated and dioxin-like [mono-ortho-substituted]) and by the time frame for the comparison (cross-sectional vs. longitudinal). Higher concentrations of medium- and high-chlorinated PCBs were associated with higher PHA-TLP cross-sectionally but not longitudinally. The mean decrease in 0.5 µg/mL PHA-TLP/50.0 pmol/g-lipid increase in dioxin-like PCBs over one year was 51.6 (95% confidence interval 2.7, 100.5; P=0.039). There was no association between plasma PCBs and NK cytotoxicity. Conclusions: These results do not provide strong evidence of impaired cellular immunity from PCB exposure. Larger longitudinal studies with greater variability in PCB exposures are needed to further examine temporal associations of PCBs with immune function. - Highlights: • Plasma PCBs and immune function were measured in 109 women at baseline and one year. • Immune measures included T lymphocyte proliferation

  10. Plasma polychlorinated biphenyl concentrations and immune function in postmenopausal women

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Spector, June T.; De Roos, Anneclaire J.; Ulrich, Cornelia M.; Sheppard, Lianne; Sjoedin, Andreas; Wener, Mark H.; Wood, Brent

    2014-01-01

    Background: Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) exposure has been associated with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in several studies, and the immune system is a potential mediator. Objectives: We analyzed associations of plasma PCBs with immune function measures. We hypothesized that higher plasma PCB concentrations are associated with lower immune function cross-sectionally, and that increases in PCB concentrations over a one year period are associated with decreases in immune function. Methods: Plasma PCB concentrations and immune function [natural killer (NK) cell cytotoxicity and PHA-induced T-lymphocyte proliferation (PHA-TLP)] were measured at baseline and one year in 109 postmenopausal overweight women participating in an exercise intervention study in the Seattle, Washington (USA) area. Mixed models, with adjustment for body mass index and other potential confounders, were used to estimate associations of PCBs with immune function cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Results: Associations of PCBs with immune function measures differed across groups of PCBs (e.g., medium- and high-chlorinated and dioxin-like [mono-ortho-substituted]) and by the time frame for the comparison (cross-sectional vs. longitudinal). Higher concentrations of medium- and high-chlorinated PCBs were associated with higher PHA-TLP cross-sectionally but not longitudinally. The mean decrease in 0.5 µg/mL PHA-TLP/50.0 pmol/g-lipid increase in dioxin-like PCBs over one year was 51.6 (95% confidence interval 2.7, 100.5; P=0.039). There was no association between plasma PCBs and NK cytotoxicity. Conclusions: These results do not provide strong evidence of impaired cellular immunity from PCB exposure. Larger longitudinal studies with greater variability in PCB exposures are needed to further examine temporal associations of PCBs with immune function. - Highlights: • Plasma PCBs and immune function were measured in 109 women at baseline and one year. • Immune measures included T lymphocyte proliferation

  11. Robust site security using smart seismic array technology and multi-sensor data fusion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hellickson, Dean; Richards, Paul; Reynolds, Zane; Keener, Joshua

    2010-04-01

    Traditional site security systems are susceptible to high individual sensor nuisance alarm rates that reduce the overall system effectiveness. Visual assessment of intrusions can be intensive and manually difficult as cameras are slewed by the system to non intrusion areas or as operators respond to nuisance alarms. Very little system intrusion performance data are available other than discrete sensor alarm indications that provide no real value. This paper discusses the system architecture, integration and display of a multi-sensor data fused system for wide area surveillance, local site intrusion detection and intrusion classification. The incorporation of a novel seismic array of smart sensors using FK Beamforming processing that greatly enhances the overall system detection and classification performance of the system is discussed. Recent test data demonstrates the performance of the seismic array within several different installations and its ability to classify and track moving targets at significant standoff distances with exceptional immunity to background clutter and noise. Multi-sensor data fusion is applied across a suite of complimentary sensors eliminating almost all nuisance alarms while integrating within a geographical information system to feed a visual-fusion display of the area being secured. Real-time sensor detection and intrusion classification data is presented within a visual-fusion display providing greatly enhanced situational awareness, system performance information and real-time assessment of intrusions and situations of interest with limited security operator involvement. This approach scales from a small local perimeter to very large geographical area and can be used across multiple sites controlled at a single command and control station.

  12. A theoretical and practical contribution to supply chain robustness:developing a schema for robustness in dyads

    OpenAIRE

    Durach, Christian F.

    2016-01-01

    Published in print by Universitätsverlag der TU Berlin, ISBN 978-3-7983-2812-9 (ISSN 1865-3170) This doctoral thesis develops four individual research studies on supply chain robustness. The overall goal of these studies is to develop a conceptual framework of supply chain robustness by consolidating current literature in the field, and, drawing on that framework, to construct a schema of determinants that facilitate robustness in buyer-supplier relationships. This research is motivated by...

  13. The Involvement of Thaumatin-Like Proteins in Plant Food Cross-Reactivity: A Multicenter Study Using a Specific Protein Microarray

    Science.gov (United States)

    Palacín, Arantxa; Rivas, Luis A.; Gómez-Casado, Cristina; Aguirre, Jacobo; Tordesillas, Leticia; Bartra, Joan; Blanco, Carlos; Carrillo, Teresa; Cuesta-Herranz, Javier; Bonny, José A. Cumplido; Flores, Enrique; García-Alvarez-Eire, Mar G.; García-Nuñez, Ignacio; Fernández, Francisco J.; Gamboa, Pedro; Muñoz, Rosa; Sánchez-Monge, Rosa; Torres, Maria; Losada, Susana Varela; Villalba, Mayte; Vega, Francisco; Parro, Victor; Blanca, Miguel; Salcedo, Gabriel; Díaz-Perales, Araceli

    2012-01-01

    Cross-reactivity of plant foods is an important phenomenon in allergy, with geographical variations with respect to the number and prevalence of the allergens involved in this process, whose complexity requires detailed studies. We have addressed the role of thaumatin-like proteins (TLPs) in cross-reactivity between fruit and pollen allergies. A representative panel of 16 purified TLPs was printed onto an allergen microarray. The proteins selected belonged to the sources most frequently associated with peach allergy in representative regions of Spain. Sera from two groups of well characterized patients, one with allergy to Rosaceae fruit (FAG) and another against pollens but tolerant to food-plant allergens (PAG), were obtained from seven geographical areas with different environmental pollen profiles. Cross-reactivity between members of this family was demonstrated by inhibition assays. Only 6 out of 16 purified TLPs showed noticeable allergenic activity in the studied populations. Pru p 2.0201, the peach TLP (41%), chestnut TLP (24%) and plane pollen TLP (22%) proved to be allergens of probable relevance to fruit allergy, being mainly associated with pollen sensitization, and strongly linked to specific geographical areas such as Barcelona, Bilbao, the Canary Islands and Madrid. The patients exhibited >50% positive response to Pru p 2.0201 and to chestnut TLP in these specific areas. Therefore, their recognition patterns were associated with the geographical area, suggesting a role for pollen in the sensitization of these allergens. Finally, the co-sensitizations of patients considering pairs of TLP allergens were analyzed by using the co-sensitization graph associated with an allergen microarray immunoassay. Our data indicate that TLPs are significant allergens in plant food allergy and should be considered when diagnosing and treating pollen-food allergy. PMID:22970164

  14. The involvement of thaumatin-like proteins in plant food cross-reactivity: a multicenter study using a specific protein microarray.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arantxa Palacín

    Full Text Available Cross-reactivity of plant foods is an important phenomenon in allergy, with geographical variations with respect to the number and prevalence of the allergens involved in this process, whose complexity requires detailed studies. We have addressed the role of thaumatin-like proteins (TLPs in cross-reactivity between fruit and pollen allergies. A representative panel of 16 purified TLPs was printed onto an allergen microarray. The proteins selected belonged to the sources most frequently associated with peach allergy in representative regions of Spain. Sera from two groups of well characterized patients, one with allergy to Rosaceae fruit (FAG and another against pollens but tolerant to food-plant allergens (PAG, were obtained from seven geographical areas with different environmental pollen profiles. Cross-reactivity between members of this family was demonstrated by inhibition assays. Only 6 out of 16 purified TLPs showed noticeable allergenic activity in the studied populations. Pru p 2.0201, the peach TLP (41%, chestnut TLP (24% and plane pollen TLP (22% proved to be allergens of probable relevance to fruit allergy, being mainly associated with pollen sensitization, and strongly linked to specific geographical areas such as Barcelona, Bilbao, the Canary Islands and Madrid. The patients exhibited >50% positive response to Pru p 2.0201 and to chestnut TLP in these specific areas. Therefore, their recognition patterns were associated with the geographical area, suggesting a role for pollen in the sensitization of these allergens. Finally, the co-sensitizations of patients considering pairs of TLP allergens were analyzed by using the co-sensitization graph associated with an allergen microarray immunoassay. Our data indicate that TLPs are significant allergens in plant food allergy and should be considered when diagnosing and treating pollen-food allergy.

  15. Robust control design with MATLAB

    CERN Document Server

    Gu, Da-Wei; Konstantinov, Mihail M

    2013-01-01

    Robust Control Design with MATLAB® (second edition) helps the student to learn how to use well-developed advanced robust control design methods in practical cases. To this end, several realistic control design examples from teaching-laboratory experiments, such as a two-wheeled, self-balancing robot, to complex systems like a flexible-link manipulator are given detailed presentation. All of these exercises are conducted using MATLAB® Robust Control Toolbox 3, Control System Toolbox and Simulink®. By sharing their experiences in industrial cases with minimum recourse to complicated theories and formulae, the authors convey essential ideas and useful insights into robust industrial control systems design using major H-infinity optimization and related methods allowing readers quickly to move on with their own challenges. The hands-on tutorial style of this text rests on an abundance of examples and features for the second edition: ·        rewritten and simplified presentation of theoretical and meth...

  16. Robust Portfolio Optimization Using Pseudodistances

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-01-01

    The presence of outliers in financial asset returns is a frequently occurring phenomenon which may lead to unreliable mean-variance optimized portfolios. This fact is due to the unbounded influence that outliers can have on the mean returns and covariance estimators that are inputs in the optimization procedure. In this paper we present robust estimators of mean and covariance matrix obtained by minimizing an empirical version of a pseudodistance between the assumed model and the true model underlying the data. We prove and discuss theoretical properties of these estimators, such as affine equivariance, B-robustness, asymptotic normality and asymptotic relative efficiency. These estimators can be easily used in place of the classical estimators, thereby providing robust optimized portfolios. A Monte Carlo simulation study and applications to real data show the advantages of the proposed approach. We study both in-sample and out-of-sample performance of the proposed robust portfolios comparing them with some other portfolios known in literature. PMID:26468948

  17. Robust Portfolio Optimization Using Pseudodistances.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toma, Aida; Leoni-Aubin, Samuela

    2015-01-01

    The presence of outliers in financial asset returns is a frequently occurring phenomenon which may lead to unreliable mean-variance optimized portfolios. This fact is due to the unbounded influence that outliers can have on the mean returns and covariance estimators that are inputs in the optimization procedure. In this paper we present robust estimators of mean and covariance matrix obtained by minimizing an empirical version of a pseudodistance between the assumed model and the true model underlying the data. We prove and discuss theoretical properties of these estimators, such as affine equivariance, B-robustness, asymptotic normality and asymptotic relative efficiency. These estimators can be easily used in place of the classical estimators, thereby providing robust optimized portfolios. A Monte Carlo simulation study and applications to real data show the advantages of the proposed approach. We study both in-sample and out-of-sample performance of the proposed robust portfolios comparing them with some other portfolios known in literature.

  18. How Robust is Your System Resilience?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Homayounfar, M.; Muneepeerakul, R.

    2017-12-01

    Robustness and resilience are concepts in system thinking that have grown in importance and popularity. For many complex social-ecological systems, however, robustness and resilience are difficult to quantify and the connections and trade-offs between them difficult to study. Most studies have either focused on qualitative approaches to discuss their connections or considered only one of them under particular classes of disturbances. In this study, we present an analytical framework to address the linkage between robustness and resilience more systematically. Our analysis is based on a stylized dynamical model that operationalizes a widely used concept framework for social-ecological systems. The model enables us to rigorously define robustness and resilience and consequently investigate their connections. The results reveal the tradeoffs among performance, robustness, and resilience. They also show how the nature of the such tradeoffs varies with the choices of certain policies (e.g., taxation and investment in public infrastructure), internal stresses and external disturbances.

  19. International Conference on Robust Statistics 2015

    CERN Document Server

    Basu, Ayanendranath; Filzmoser, Peter; Mukherjee, Diganta

    2016-01-01

    This book offers a collection of recent contributions and emerging ideas in the areas of robust statistics presented at the International Conference on Robust Statistics 2015 (ICORS 2015) held in Kolkata during 12–16 January, 2015. The book explores the applicability of robust methods in other non-traditional areas which includes the use of new techniques such as skew and mixture of skew distributions, scaled Bregman divergences, and multilevel functional data methods; application areas being circular data models and prediction of mortality and life expectancy. The contributions are of both theoretical as well as applied in nature. Robust statistics is a relatively young branch of statistical sciences that is rapidly emerging as the bedrock of statistical analysis in the 21st century due to its flexible nature and wide scope. Robust statistics supports the application of parametric and other inference techniques over a broader domain than the strictly interpreted model scenarios employed in classical statis...

  20. Non-Invasive Seismic Methods for Earthquake Site Classification Applied to Ontario Bridge Sites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bilson Darko, A.; Molnar, S.; Sadrekarimi, A.

    2017-12-01

    How a site responds to earthquake shaking and its corresponding damage is largely influenced by the underlying ground conditions through which it propagates. The effects of site conditions on propagating seismic waves can be predicted from measurements of the shear wave velocity (Vs) of the soil layer(s) and the impedance ratio between bedrock and soil. Currently the seismic design of new buildings and bridges (2015 Canadian building and bridge codes) requires determination of the time-averaged shear-wave velocity of the upper 30 metres (Vs30) of a given site. In this study, two in situ Vs profiling methods; Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) and Ambient Vibration Array (AVA) methods are used to determine Vs30 at chosen bridge sites in Ontario, Canada. Both active-source (MASW) and passive-source (AVA) surface wave methods are used at each bridge site to obtain Rayleigh-wave phase velocities over a wide frequency bandwidth. The dispersion curve is jointly inverted with each site's amplification function (microtremor horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio) to obtain shear-wave velocity profile(s). We apply our non-invasive testing at three major infrastructure projects, e.g., five bridge sites along the Rt. Hon. Herb Gray Parkway in Windsor, Ontario. Our non-invasive testing is co-located with previous invasive testing, including Standard Penetration Test (SPT), Cone Penetration Test and downhole Vs data. Correlations between SPT blowcount and Vs are developed for the different soil types sampled at our Ontario bridge sites. A robust earthquake site classification procedure (reliable Vs30 estimates) for bridge sites across Ontario is evaluated from available combinations of invasive and non-invasive site characterization methods.

  1. Robustness of IPTV business models

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bouwman, H.; Zhengjia, M.; Duin, P. van der; Limonard, S.

    2008-01-01

    The final stage in the STOF method is an evaluation of the robustness of the design, for which the method provides some guidelines. For many innovative services, the future holds numerous uncertainties, which makes evaluating the robustness of a business model a difficult task. In this chapter, we

  2. Robust Design Impact Metrics: Measuring the effect of implementing and using Robust Design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ebro, Martin; Olesen, Jesper; Howard, Thomas J.

    2014-01-01

    Measuring the performance of an organisation’s product development process can be challenging due to the limited use of metrics in R&D. An organisation considering whether to use Robust Design as an integrated part of their development process may find it difficult to define whether it is relevant......, and afterwards measure the effect of having implemented it. This publication identifies and evaluates Robust Design-related metrics and finds that 2 metrics are especially useful: 1) Relative amount of R&D Resources spent after Design Verification and 2) Number of ‘change notes’ after Design Verification....... The metrics have been applied in a case company to test the assumptions made during the evaluation. It is concluded that the metrics are useful and relevant, but further work is necessary to make a proper overview and categorisation of different types of robustness related metrics....

  3. Water relations and microclimate around the upper limit of a cloud forest in Maui, Hawai'i.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gotsch, Sybil G; Crausbay, Shelley D; Giambelluca, Thomas W; Weintraub, Alexis E; Longman, Ryan J; Asbjornsen, Heidi; Hotchkiss, Sara C; Dawson, Todd E

    2014-07-01

    The goal of this study was to determine the effects of atmospheric demand on both plant water relations and daily whole-tree water balance across the upper limit of a cloud forest at the mean base height of the trade wind inversion in the tropical trade wind belt. We measured the microclimate and water relations (sap flow, water potential, stomatal conductance, pressure-volume relations) of Metrosideros polymorpha Gaudich. var. polymorpha in three habitats bracketing the cloud forest's upper limit in Hawai'i to understand the role of water relations in determining ecotone position. The subalpine shrubland site, located 100 m above the cloud forest boundary, had the highest vapor pressure deficit, the least amount of rainfall and the highest levels of nighttime transpiration (EN) of all three sites. In the shrubland site, on average, 29% of daily whole-tree transpiration occurred at night, while on the driest day of the study 50% of total daily transpiration occurred at night. While EN occurred in the cloud forest habitat, the proportion of total daily transpiration that occurred at night was much lower (4%). The average leaf water potential (Ψleaf) was above the water potential at the turgor loss point (ΨTLP) on both sides of the ecotone due to strong stomatal regulation. While stomatal closure maintained a high Ψleaf, the minimum leaf water potential (Ψleafmin) was close to ΨTLP, indicating that drier conditions may cause drought stress in these habitats and may be an important driver of current landscape patterns in stand density. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  4. Security scanning of Web sites at CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    IT Department

    2010-01-01

    As of early 2010, the CERN Computer Security Team will start regular scanning of all Web sites and Web applications at CERN, visible on the Internet, or on the General Purpose Network (office network). The goal of this scanning is to improve the quality of CERN Web sites. All deficits found will be reported by e-mail to the relevant Web site owners, and must be fixed in a timely manner. Web site owners may also request one-off scans of their Web site or Web application, by sending an e-mail to Computer.Security@cern.ch. These Web scans are designed to limit the impact on the scanned Web sites. Nevertheless, in very rare cases scans may cause undesired side-effects, e.g. generate a large number of log entries, or cause particularly badly designed or less robust Web applications to crash. If a Web site is affected by these security scans, it will also be susceptible to any more aggressive scan that can be performed any time by a malicious attacker. Such Web applications should be fixed, and also additionally...

  5. Robust loss functions for boosting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kanamori, Takafumi; Takenouchi, Takashi; Eguchi, Shinto; Murata, Noboru

    2007-08-01

    Boosting is known as a gradient descent algorithm over loss functions. It is often pointed out that the typical boosting algorithm, Adaboost, is highly affected by outliers. In this letter, loss functions for robust boosting are studied. Based on the concept of robust statistics, we propose a transformation of loss functions that makes boosting algorithms robust against extreme outliers. Next, the truncation of loss functions is applied to contamination models that describe the occurrence of mislabels near decision boundaries. Numerical experiments illustrate that the proposed loss functions derived from the contamination models are useful for handling highly noisy data in comparison with other loss functions.

  6. Robustness of airline route networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lordan, Oriol; Sallan, Jose M.; Escorihuela, Nuria; Gonzalez-Prieto, David

    2016-03-01

    Airlines shape their route network by defining their routes through supply and demand considerations, paying little attention to network performance indicators, such as network robustness. However, the collapse of an airline network can produce high financial costs for the airline and all its geographical area of influence. The aim of this study is to analyze the topology and robustness of the network route of airlines following Low Cost Carriers (LCCs) and Full Service Carriers (FSCs) business models. Results show that FSC hubs are more central than LCC bases in their route network. As a result, LCC route networks are more robust than FSC networks.

  7. Molecular Characterization, Structural Modeling, and Evaluation of Antimicrobial Activity of Basrai Thaumatin-Like Protein against Fungal Infection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nusrat Yasmin

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available A thaumatin-like protein gene from Basrai banana was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. Amplified gene product was cloned into pTZ57R/T vector and subcloned into expression vector pET22b(+ and resulting pET22b-basrai TLP construct was introduced into E. coli BL21. Maximum protein expression was obtained at 0.7 mM IPTG concentration after 6 hours at 37°C. Western blot analysis showed the presence of approximately 20 kDa protein in induced cells. Basrai antifungal TLP was tried as pharmacological agent against fungal disease. Independently Basrai antifungal protein and amphotericin B exhibited their antifungal activity against A. fumigatus; however combined effect of both agents maximized activity against the pathogen. Docking studies were performed to evaluate the antimicrobial potential of TLP against A. fumigatus by probing binding pattern of antifungal protein with plasma membrane ergosterol of targeted fungal strain. Ice crystallization primarily damages frozen food items; however addition of antifreeze proteins limits the growth of ice crystal in frozen foods. The potential of Basrai TLP protein, as an antifreezing agent, in controlling the ice crystal formation in frozen yogurt was also studied. The scope of this study ranges from cost effective production of pharmaceutics to antifreezing and food preserving agent as well as other real life applications.

  8. Redox-dependent interaction between thaumatin-like protein and β-glucan influences malting quality of barley.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Surinder; Tripathi, Rajiv K; Lemaux, Peggy G; Buchanan, Bob B; Singh, Jaswinder

    2017-07-18

    Barley is the cornerstone of the malting and brewing industry. It is known that 250 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) of the grain are associated with 19 malting-quality phenotypes. However, only a few of the contributing genetic components have been identified. One of these, on chromosome 4H, contains a major malting QTL, QTL2, located near the telomeric region that accounts, respectively, for 28.9% and 37.6% of the variation in the β-glucan and extract fractions of malt. In the current study, we dissected the QTL2 region using an expression- and microsynteny-based approach. From a set of 22 expressed sequence tags expressed in seeds at the malting stage, we identified a candidate gene, TLP8 ( thaumatin-like protein 8 ), which was differentially expressed and influenced malting quality. Transcript abundance and protein profiles of TLP8 were studied in different malt and feed varieties using quantitative PCR, immunoblotting, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The experiments demonstrated that TLP8 binds to insoluble (1, 3, 1, 4)-β-D glucan in grain extracts, thereby facilitating the removal of this undesirable polysaccharide during malting. Further, the binding of TLP8 to β-glucan was dependent on redox. These findings represent a stride forward in our understanding of the malting process and provide a foundation for future improvements in the final beer-making process.

  9. Multimodel Robust Control for Hydraulic Turbine

    OpenAIRE

    Osuský, Jakub; Števo, Stanislav

    2014-01-01

    The paper deals with the multimodel and robust control system design and their combination based on M-Δ structure. Controller design will be done in the frequency domain with nominal performance specified by phase margin. Hydraulic turbine model is analyzed as system with unstructured uncertainty, and robust stability condition is included in controller design. Multimodel and robust control approaches are presented in detail on hydraulic turbine model. Control design approaches are compared a...

  10. Robustness of Linear Systems towards Multi-Dissipative Pertubations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thygesen, Uffe Høgsbro; Poulsen, Niels Kjølstad

    1997-01-01

    We consider the question of robust stability of a linear time invariant plant subject to dynamic perturbations, which are dissipative in the sense of Willems with respect to several quadratic supply rates. For instance, parasitic dynamics are often both small gain and passive. We reduce several...... robustness analysis questions to linear matrix inequalities: robust stability, robust H2 performance and robust performance in presence of disturbances with finite signal-to-noise ratios...

  11. Robust performance results for discrete-time systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mahmoud Magdi S.

    1997-01-01

    Full Text Available The problems of robust performance and feedback control synthesis for a class of linear discrete-time systems with time-varying parametric uncertainties are addressed in this paper. The uncertainties are bound and have a linear matrix fractional form. Based on the concept of strongly robust H ∞ -performance criterion, results of robust stability and performance are developed and expressed in easily computable linear matrix inequalities. Synthesis of robust feedback controllers is carried out for several system models of interest.

  12. Robust adaptive synchronization of general dynamical networks ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Home; Journals; Pramana – Journal of Physics; Volume 86; Issue 6. Robust ... A robust adaptive synchronization scheme for these general complex networks with multiple delays and uncertainties is established and raised by employing the robust adaptive control principle and the Lyapunov stability theory. We choose ...

  13. Robust synthesis for real-time systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Kim Guldstrand; Legay, Axel; Traonouez, Luois-Marie

    2014-01-01

    Specification theories for real-time systems allow reasoning about interfaces and their implementation models, using a set of operators that includes satisfaction, refinement, logical and parallel composition. To make such theories applicable throughout the entire design process from an abstract...... of introducing small perturbations into formal models. We address this problem of robust implementations in timed specification theories. We first consider a fixed perturbation and study the robustness of timed specifications with respect to the operators of the theory. To this end we synthesize robust...... specification to an implementation, we need to reason about the possibility to effectively implement the theoretical specifications on physical systems, despite their limited precision. In the literature, this implementation problem has been linked to the robustness problem that analyzes the consequences...

  14. A Novel Evolutionary Algorithm for Designing Robust Analog Filters

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shaobo Li

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Designing robust circuits that withstand environmental perturbation and device degradation is critical for many applications. Traditional robust circuit design is mainly done by tuning parameters to improve system robustness. However, the topological structure of a system may set a limit on the robustness achievable through parameter tuning. This paper proposes a new evolutionary algorithm for robust design that exploits the open-ended topological search capability of genetic programming (GP coupled with bond graph modeling. We applied our GP-based robust design (GPRD algorithm to evolve robust lowpass and highpass analog filters. Compared with a traditional robust design approach based on a state-of-the-art real-parameter genetic algorithm (GA, our GPRD algorithm with a fitness criterion rewarding robustness, with respect to parameter perturbations, can evolve more robust filters than what was achieved through parameter tuning alone. We also find that inappropriate GA tuning may mislead the search process and that multiple-simulation and perturbed fitness evaluation methods for evolving robustness have complementary behaviors with no absolute advantage of one over the other.

  15. REINA at CLEF 2007 Robust Task

    OpenAIRE

    Zazo Rodríguez, Ángel Francisco; Figuerola, Carlos G.; Alonso Berrocal, José Luis

    2007-01-01

    This paper describes our work at CLEF 2007 Robust Task. We have participated in the monolingual (English, French and Portuguese) and the bilingual (English to French) subtask. At CLEF 2006 our research group obtained very good results applying local query expansion using windows of terms in the robust task. This year we have used the same expansion technique, but taking into account some criteria of robustness: MAP, GMAP, MMR, GS@10, P@10, number of failed topics, number of topics bellow 0.1 ...

  16. Language Mediated Concept Activation in Bilingual Memory Facilitates Cognitive Flexibility

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anatoliy V. Kharkhurin

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available This is the first attempt of empirical investigation of language mediated concept activation (LMCA in bilingual memory as a cognitive mechanism facilitating divergent thinking. Russian–English bilingual and Russian monolingual college students were tested on a battery of tests including among others Abbreviated Torrance Tests for Adults assessing divergent thinking traits and translingual priming (TLP test assessing the LMCA. The latter was designed as a lexical decision priming test, in which a prime and a target were not related in Russian (language of testing, but were related through their translation equivalents in English (spoken only by bilinguals. Bilinguals outperformed their monolingual counterparts on divergent thinking trait of cognitive flexibility, and bilinguals’ performance on this trait could be explained by their TLP effect. Age of second language acquisition and proficiency in this language were found to relate to the TLP effect, and therefore were proposed to influence the directionality and strength of connections in bilingual memory.

  17. A 3d-3d appetizer

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pei, Du; Ye, Ke [Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91125 (United States)

    2016-11-02

    We test the 3d-3d correspondence for theories that are labeled by Lens spaces. We find a full agreement between the index of the 3d N=2 “Lens space theory” T[L(p,1)] and the partition function of complex Chern-Simons theory on L(p,1). In particular, for p=1, we show how the familiar S{sup 3} partition function of Chern-Simons theory arises from the index of a free theory. For large p, we find that the index of T[L(p,1)] becomes a constant independent of p. In addition, we study T[L(p,1)] on the squashed three-sphere S{sub b}{sup 3}. This enables us to see clearly, at the level of partition function, to what extent G{sub ℂ} complex Chern-Simons theory can be thought of as two copies of Chern-Simons theory with compact gauge group G.

  18. Experimental Study on New Multi-Column Tension-Leg-Type Floating Wind Turbine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Yong-sheng; She, Xiao-he; He, Yan-ping; Yang, Jian-min; Peng, Tao; Kou, Yu-feng

    2018-04-01

    Deep-water regions often have winds favorable for offshore wind turbines, and floating turbines currently show the greatest potential to exploit such winds. This work established proper scaling laws for model tests, which were then implemented in the construction of a model wind turbine with optimally designed blades. The aerodynamic, hydrodynamic, and elastic characteristics of the proposed new multi-column tension-leg-type floating wind turbine (WindStar TLP system) were explored in the wave tank testing of a 1:50 scale model at the State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Tests were conducted under conditions of still water, white noise waves, irregular waves, and combined wind, wave, and current loads. The results established the natural periods of the motion, damping, motion response amplitude operators, and tendon tensions of the WindStar TLP system under different environmental conditions, and thus could serve as a reference for further research. Key words: floating wind turbine, model test, WindStar TLP, dynamic response

  19. The Variation Management Framework (VMF) for Robust Design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Howard, Thomas J.; Ebro, Martin; Eifler, Tobias

    2014-01-01

    Robust Design is an approach to reduce the effects of variation. There are numerous tools,methods and models associated with robust design, however, there is both a lack of a processmodel formalising the step of a robust design process and a framework tying the models together.In this paper we pr...... in the market place and identifies areaswhere action can be taken against variation. An additional benefit of the framework is that itmakes the link between visual/sensory/perceptual robustness, product robustness, and productionvariation (Six Sigma)....

  20. Measure of robustness for complex networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Youssef, Mina Nabil

    Critical infrastructures are repeatedly attacked by external triggers causing tremendous amount of damages. Any infrastructure can be studied using the powerful theory of complex networks. A complex network is composed of extremely large number of different elements that exchange commodities providing significant services. The main functions of complex networks can be damaged by different types of attacks and failures that degrade the network performance. These attacks and failures are considered as disturbing dynamics, such as the spread of viruses in computer networks, the spread of epidemics in social networks, and the cascading failures in power grids. Depending on the network structure and the attack strength, every network differently suffers damages and performance degradation. Hence, quantifying the robustness of complex networks becomes an essential task. In this dissertation, new metrics are introduced to measure the robustness of technological and social networks with respect to the spread of epidemics, and the robustness of power grids with respect to cascading failures. First, we introduce a new metric called the Viral Conductance (VCSIS ) to assess the robustness of networks with respect to the spread of epidemics that are modeled through the susceptible/infected/susceptible (SIS) epidemic approach. In contrast to assessing the robustness of networks based on a classical metric, the epidemic threshold, the new metric integrates the fraction of infected nodes at steady state for all possible effective infection strengths. Through examples, VCSIS provides more insights about the robustness of networks than the epidemic threshold. In addition, both the paradoxical robustness of Barabasi-Albert preferential attachment networks and the effect of the topology on the steady state infection are studied, to show the importance of quantifying the robustness of networks. Second, a new metric VCSIR is introduced to assess the robustness of networks with respect

  1. Robust recognition via information theoretic learning

    CERN Document Server

    He, Ran; Yuan, Xiaotong; Wang, Liang

    2014-01-01

    This Springer Brief represents a comprehensive review of information theoretic methods for robust recognition. A variety of information theoretic methods have been proffered in the past decade, in a large variety of computer vision applications; this work brings them together, attempts to impart the theory, optimization and usage of information entropy.The?authors?resort to a new information theoretic concept, correntropy, as a robust measure and apply it to solve robust face recognition and object recognition problems. For computational efficiency,?the brief?introduces the additive and multip

  2. Robust methods for multivariate data analysis A1

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Frosch, Stina; Von Frese, J.; Bro, Rasmus

    2005-01-01

    Outliers may hamper proper classical multivariate analysis, and lead to incorrect conclusions. To remedy the problem of outliers, robust methods are developed in statistics and chemometrics. Robust methods reduce or remove the effect of outlying data points and allow the ?good? data to primarily...... determine the result. This article reviews the most commonly used robust multivariate regression and exploratory methods that have appeared since 1996 in the field of chemometrics. Special emphasis is put on the robust versions of chemometric standard tools like PCA and PLS and the corresponding robust...

  3. Robustness Evaluation of Timber Structures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kirkegaard, Poul Henning; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2009-01-01

    Robustness of structural systems has obtained a renewed interest due to a much more frequent use of advanced types of structures with limited redundancy and serious consequences in case of failure.......Robustness of structural systems has obtained a renewed interest due to a much more frequent use of advanced types of structures with limited redundancy and serious consequences in case of failure....

  4. Ins-Robust Primitive Words

    OpenAIRE

    Srivastava, Amit Kumar; Kapoor, Kalpesh

    2017-01-01

    Let Q be the set of primitive words over a finite alphabet with at least two symbols. We characterize a class of primitive words, Q_I, referred to as ins-robust primitive words, which remain primitive on insertion of any letter from the alphabet and present some properties that characterizes words in the set Q_I. It is shown that the language Q_I is dense. We prove that the language of primitive words that are not ins-robust is not context-free. We also present a linear time algorithm to reco...

  5. On the Transmission Line Pulse Measurement Technique

    OpenAIRE

    X. Rodriguez; M. Eduardo; M. Harington

    2015-01-01

    Transmission Line Pulse is a short pulse (25ns to 150ns) measurement of the current-voltage (I/V) characteristics of the ESD protection built into an integrated circuit. The short TLP pulses are used to simulate the short ESD pulse threats and integrated circuit must tolerate without being damaged. In this work the fundamental principles of how the TLP pulse is generated and used to create I-V characteristic plots will be explored. The measurement will be then used to characterize the I-V cha...

  6. A Survey on Robustness in Railway Planning

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lusby, Richard Martin; Larsen, Jesper; Bull, Simon Henry

    2018-01-01

    Planning problems in passenger railway range from long term strategic decision making to the detailed planning of operations.Operations research methods have played an increasing role in this planning process. However, recently more attention has been given to considerations of robustness...... in the quality of solutions to individual planning problems, and of operations in general. Robustness in general is the capacity for some system to absorb or resist changes. In the context of railway robustness it is often taken to be the capacity for operations to continue at some level when faced...... with a disruption such as delay or failure. This has resulted in more attention given to the inclusion of robustness measures and objectives in individual planning problems, and to the providing of tools to ensure operations continue under disrupted situations. In this paper we survey the literature on robustness...

  7. A robust interpretation of duration calculus

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Franzle, M.; Hansen, Michael Reichhardt

    2005-01-01

    We transfer the concept of robust interpretation from arithmetic first-order theories to metric-time temporal logics. The idea is that the interpretation of a formula is robust iff its truth value does not change under small variation of the constants in the formula. Exemplifying this on Duration...... Calculus (DC), our findings are that the robust interpretation of DC is equivalent to a multi-valued interpretation that uses the real numbers as semantic domain and assigns Lipschitz-continuous interpretations to all operators of DC. Furthermore, this continuity permits approximation between discrete...

  8. Design Robust Controller for Rotary Kiln

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Omar D. Hernández-Arboleda

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the design of a robust controller for a rotary kiln. The designed controller is a combination of a fractional PID and linear quadratic regulator (LQR, these are not used to control the kiln until now, in addition robustness criteria are evaluated (gain margin, phase margin, strength gain, rejecting high frequency noise and sensitivity applied to the entire model (controller-plant, obtaining good results with a frequency range of 0.020 to 90 rad/s, which contributes to the robustness of the system.

  9. Danish Requirements for Robustness of Structures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, John Dalsgaard; Christensen, H. H.

    2006-01-01

    . This paper describes the background of the revised robustness requirements implemented in the Danish Code of Practice for Safety of Structures in 2003 [1, 2, 3]. According to the Danish design rules robustness shall be documented for all structures where consequences of failure are serious. This paper...... describes the background of the design procedure in the Danish codes, which shall be followed in order to document sufficient robustness in the following steps: Step 1: review of loads and possible failure modes/scenarios and determination of acceptable collapse extent. Step 2: review of the structural...

  10. Robust lyapunov controller for uncertain systems

    KAUST Repository

    Laleg-Kirati, Taous-Meriem; Elmetennani, Shahrazed

    2017-01-01

    Various examples of systems and methods are provided for Lyapunov control for uncertain systems. In one example, a system includes a process plant and a robust Lyapunov controller configured to control an input of the process plant. The robust

  11. A simulation-based robust biofuel facility location model for an integrated bio-energy logistics network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jae-Dong Hong

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose a simulation-based robust biofuel facility location model for solving an integrated bio-energy logistics network (IBLN problem, where biomass yield is often uncertain or difficult to determine.Design/methodology/approach: The IBLN considered in this paper consists of four different facilities: farm or harvest site (HS, collection facility (CF, biorefinery (BR, and blending station (BS. Authors propose a mixed integer quadratic modeling approach to simultaneously determine the optimal CF and BR locations and corresponding biomass and bio-energy transportation plans. The authors randomly generate biomass yield of each HS and find the optimal locations of CFs and BRs for each generated biomass yield, and select the robust locations of CFs and BRs to show the effects of biomass yield uncertainty on the optimality of CF and BR locations. Case studies using data from the State of South Carolina in the United State are conducted to demonstrate the developed model’s capability to better handle the impact of uncertainty of biomass yield.Findings: The results illustrate that the robust location model for BRs and CFs works very well in terms of the total logistics costs. The proposed model would help decision-makers find the most robust locations for biorefineries and collection facilities, which usually require huge investments, and would assist potential investors in identifying the least cost or important facilities to invest in the biomass and bio-energy industry.Originality/value: An optimal biofuel facility location model is formulated for the case of deterministic biomass yield. To improve the robustness of the model for cases with probabilistic biomass yield, the model is evaluated by a simulation approach using case studies. The proposed model and robustness concept would be a very useful tool that helps potential biofuel investors minimize their investment risk.

  12. Robustness Analysis of Typologies of Reciprocal Timber Structures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kirkegaard, Poul Henning; Parigi, Dario

    2013-01-01

    to the future development of typologies of reciprocal timber structures. The paper concludes that these kinds of structures can have a potential as long span timber structures in real projects if they are carefully designed with respect to the overall robustness strategies.......Robustness of structural systems has obtained a renewed interest due to a much more frequent use of advanced types of structures with limited redundancy and serious consequences in case of failure. In order to minimise the likelihood of such disproportionate structural failures many modern building...... codes consider the need for robustness in structures and provides strategies and methods to obtain robustness. Therefore a structural engineer may take necessary steps to design robust structures that are insensitive to accidental circumstances. The present paper outlines robustness issues related...

  13. Robustness of Long Span Reciprocal Timber Structures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Balfroid, Nathalie; Kirkegaard, Poul Henning

    2011-01-01

    engineer may take necessary steps to design robust structures that are insensitive to accidental circumstances. The present paper makes a discussion of such robustness issues related to the future development of reciprocal timber structures. The paper concludes that these kind of structures can have...... a potential as long span timber structures in real projects if they are carefully designed with respect to the overall robustness strategies.......Robustness of structural systems has obtained a renewed interest due to a much more frequent use of advanced types of structures with limited redundancy and serious consequences in case of failure. The interest has also been facilitated due to recently severe structural failures...

  14. Effects of a transdermal lidocaine patch on indicators of postoperative pain in dogs undergoing midline ovariohysterectomy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Merema, Danielle K; Schoenrock, Emily K; Le Boedec, Kevin; McMichael, Maureen A

    2017-05-15

    OBJECTIVE To determine the effects of a transdermal lidocaine patch (TLP) on indicators of postoperative pain in healthy dogs following ovariohysterectomy. DESIGN Randomized, blinded controlled trial. ANIMALS 40 healthy shelter-owned female dogs admitted to a student surgery program for ovariohysterectomy. PROCEDURES Dogs were randomly assigned to receive after ovariohysterectomy a 5-cm-wide strip of TLP applied topically on both sides of the incision, for the full length of the incision and a wound dressing (n = 19) or a placebo patch (nonmedicated wound dressing; 21). All dogs underwent midline ovariohysterectomy. Immediately afterward, dogs received 2 IM morphine injections, carprofen (SC, q 12 h for 2 days), and the assigned patch (left in place for 18 hours). Postoperative comfort was evaluated by use of the short form of the Glasgow Composite Measures Pain Scale and serum cortisol concentrations measured prior to premedication and 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 18 hours after surgery. RESULTS No significant difference in pain scores or serum cortisol concentrations was identified between dogs that received the TLP and dogs that received a placebo patch after ovariohysterectomy. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE The TLP provided no additional analgesic benefit to dogs treated concurrently with recommended doses of morphine and carprofen following ovariohysterectomy. Additional studies are needed to investigate whether similar results might be achieved in dogs treated concurrently with other analgesics. (J Am Vet Med Assoc 2017;250:1140-1147).

  15. Dynamic response signatures of a scaled model platform for floating wind turbines in an ocean wave basin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jaksic, V; O'Shea, R; Cahill, P; Murphy, J; Mandic, D P; Pakrashi, V

    2015-02-28

    Understanding of dynamic behaviour of offshore wind floating substructures is extremely important in relation to design, operation, maintenance and management of floating wind farms. This paper presents assessment of nonlinear signatures of dynamic responses of a scaled tension-leg platform (TLP) in a wave tank exposed to different regular wave conditions and sea states characterized by the Bretschneider, the Pierson-Moskowitz and the JONSWAP spectra. Dynamic responses of the TLP were monitored at different locations using load cells, a camera-based motion recognition system and a laser Doppler vibrometer. The analysis of variability of the TLP responses and statistical quantification of their linearity or nonlinearity, as non-destructive means of structural monitoring from the output-only condition, remains a challenging problem. In this study, the delay vector variance (DVV) method is used to statistically study the degree of nonlinearity of measured response signals from a TLP. DVV is observed to create a marker estimating the degree to which a change in signal nonlinearity reflects real-time behaviour of the structure and also to establish the sensitivity of the instruments employed to these changes. The findings can be helpful in establishing monitoring strategies and control strategies for undesirable levels or types of dynamic response and can help to better estimate changes in system characteristics over the life cycle of the structure. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

  16. Nonlinear robust hierarchical control for nonlinear uncertain systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leonessa Alexander

    1999-01-01

    Full Text Available A nonlinear robust control-system design framework predicated on a hierarchical switching controller architecture parameterized over a set of moving nominal system equilibria is developed. Specifically, using equilibria-dependent Lyapunov functions, a hierarchical nonlinear robust control strategy is developed that robustly stabilizes a given nonlinear system over a prescribed range of system uncertainty by robustly stabilizing a collection of nonlinear controlled uncertain subsystems. The robust switching nonlinear controller architecture is designed based on a generalized (lower semicontinuous Lyapunov function obtained by minimizing a potential function over a given switching set induced by the parameterized nominal system equilibria. The proposed framework robustly stabilizes a compact positively invariant set of a given nonlinear uncertain dynamical system with structured parametric uncertainty. Finally, the efficacy of the proposed approach is demonstrated on a jet engine propulsion control problem with uncertain pressure-flow map data.

  17. The importance of robust design methodology

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eifler, Tobias; Howard, Thomas J.

    2018-01-01

    infamous recalls in automotive history, that of the GM ignition switch, from the perspective of Robust Design. It is investigated if available Robust Design methods such as sensitivity analysis, tolerance stack-ups, design clarity, etc. would have been suitable to account for the performance variation...

  18. Security and robustness for collaborative monitors

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Testerink, Bas; Bulling, Nils; Dastani, Mehdi

    2016-01-01

    Decentralized monitors can be subject to robustness and security risks. Robustness risks include attacks on the monitor’s infrastructure in order to disable parts of its functionality. Security risks include attacks that try to extract information from the monitor and thereby possibly leak sensitive

  19. Robust statistics and geochemical data analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Di, Z.

    1987-01-01

    Advantages of robust procedures over ordinary least-squares procedures in geochemical data analysis is demonstrated using NURE data from the Hot Springs Quadrangle, South Dakota, USA. Robust principal components analysis with 5% multivariate trimming successfully guarded the analysis against perturbations by outliers and increased the number of interpretable factors. Regression with SINE estimates significantly increased the goodness-of-fit of the regression and improved the correspondence of delineated anomalies with known uranium prospects. Because of the ubiquitous existence of outliers in geochemical data, robust statistical procedures are suggested as routine procedures to replace ordinary least-squares procedures

  20. Towards distortion-free robust image authentication

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Coltuc, D

    2007-01-01

    This paper investigates a general framework for distortion-free robust image authentication by multiple marking. First, by robust watermarking a subsampled version of image edges is embedded. Then, by reversible watermarking the information needed to recover the original image is inserted, too. The hiding capacity of the reversible watermarking is the essential requirement for this approach. Thus in case of no attacks not only image is authenticated but also the original is exactly recovered. In case of attacks, reversibility is lost, but image can still be authenticated. Preliminary results providing very good robustness against JPEG compression are presented

  1. Recent advances in covalent, site-specific protein immobilization [version 1; referees

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Meldal, Morten Peter; Schoffelen, Sanne

    2016-01-01

    The properties of biosensors, biomedical implants, and other materials based on immobilized proteins greatly depend on the method employed to couple the protein molecules to their solid support. Covalent, site-specific immobilization strategies are robust and can provide the level of control...

  2. On the robustness of Herlihy's hierarchy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jayanti, Prasad

    1993-01-01

    A wait-free hierarchy maps object types to levels in Z(+) U (infinity) and has the following property: if a type T is at level N, and T' is an arbitrary type, then there is a wait-free implementation of an object of type T', for N processes, using only registers and objects of type T. The infinite hierarchy defined by Herlihy is an example of a wait-free hierarchy. A wait-free hierarchy is robust if it has the following property: if T is at level N, and S is a finite set of types belonging to levels N - 1 or lower, then there is no wait-free implementation of an object of type T, for N processes, using any number and any combination of objects belonging to the types in S. Robustness implies that there are no clever ways of combining weak shared objects to obtain stronger ones. Contrary to what many researchers believe, we prove that Herlihy's hierarchy is not robust. We then define some natural variants of Herlihy's hierarchy, which are also infinite wait-free hierarchies. With the exception of one, which is still open, these are not robust either. We conclude with the open question of whether non-trivial robust wait-free hierarchies exist.

  3. Information theory perspective on network robustness

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schieber, Tiago A.; Carpi, Laura; Frery, Alejandro C.; Rosso, Osvaldo A.; Pardalos, Panos M.; Ravetti, Martín G.

    2016-01-01

    A crucial challenge in network theory is the study of the robustness of a network when facing a sequence of failures. In this work, we propose a dynamical definition of network robustness based on Information Theory, that considers measurements of the structural changes caused by failures of the network's components. Failures are defined here as a temporal process defined in a sequence. Robustness is then evaluated by measuring dissimilarities between topologies after each time step of the sequence, providing a dynamical information about the topological damage. We thoroughly analyze the efficiency of the method in capturing small perturbations by considering different probability distributions on networks. In particular, we find that distributions based on distances are more consistent in capturing network structural deviations, as better reflect the consequences of the failures. Theoretical examples and real networks are used to study the performance of this methodology. - Highlights: • A novel methodology to measure the robustness of a network to component failure or targeted attacks is proposed. • The use of the network's distance PDF allows a precise analysis. • The method provides a dynamic robustness profile showing the response of the topology to each failure event. • The measure is capable to detect network's critical elements.

  4. Replication and robustness in developmental research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duncan, Greg J; Engel, Mimi; Claessens, Amy; Dowsett, Chantelle J

    2014-11-01

    Replications and robustness checks are key elements of the scientific method and a staple in many disciplines. However, leading journals in developmental psychology rarely include explicit replications of prior research conducted by different investigators, and few require authors to establish in their articles or online appendices that their key results are robust across estimation methods, data sets, and demographic subgroups. This article makes the case for prioritizing both explicit replications and, especially, within-study robustness checks in developmental psychology. It provides evidence on variation in effect sizes in developmental studies and documents strikingly different replication and robustness-checking practices in a sample of journals in developmental psychology and a sister behavioral science-applied economics. Our goal is not to show that any one behavioral science has a monopoly on best practices, but rather to show how journals from a related discipline address vital concerns of replication and generalizability shared by all social and behavioral sciences. We provide recommendations for promoting graduate training in replication and robustness-checking methods and for editorial policies that encourage these practices. Although some of our recommendations may shift the form and substance of developmental research articles, we argue that they would generate considerable scientific benefits for the field. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

  5. Primal and dual approaches to adjustable robust optimization

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Ruiter, Frans

    2018-01-01

    Robust optimization has become an important paradigm to deal with optimization under uncertainty. Adjustable robust optimization is an extension that deals with multistage problems. This thesis starts with a short but comprehensive introduction to adjustable robust optimization. Then the two

  6. Reliability-Based Robustness Analysis for a Croatian Sports Hall

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Čizmar, Dean; Kirkegaard, Poul Henning; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2011-01-01

    This paper presents a probabilistic approach for structural robustness assessment for a timber structure built a few years ago. The robustness analysis is based on a structural reliability based framework for robustness and a simplified mechanical system modelling of a timber truss system....... A complex timber structure with a large number of failure modes is modelled with only a few dominant failure modes. First, a component based robustness analysis is performed based on the reliability indices of the remaining elements after the removal of selected critical elements. The robustness...... is expressed and evaluated by a robustness index. Next, the robustness is assessed using system reliability indices where the probabilistic failure model is modelled by a series system of parallel systems....

  7. Caso clínico: ¿qué puede existir tras una funcionalidad aparente?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Susana Penas-Cuesta

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available El trastorno límite de la personalidad (TLP es un trastorno grave consistente en un patrón general de impulsividad e inestabilidad en las relaciones, la autoimagen y los afectos, que suele requerir tratamiento intensivo, multidisciplinar y de larga duración. Se presenta un caso clínico en el que se realiza este tipo de abordaje en una paciente de 30 años con TLP y trastorno dismórfico corporal en el que predominan comportamientos impulsivos y potencialmente dañinos.

  8. Maturity and Fecundity of Spiny Dogfish (Squalus acanthias L., 1758) in the Eastern Black Sea

    OpenAIRE

    DEMİRHAN, Sefa Ayhan; SEYHAN, Kadir

    2014-01-01

    The maturity and fecundity of Squalus acanthias spiny dogfish sampled from the south-eastern Black Sea were studied. Age and length at 50% maturity were 10.49 years and 87.57 cm for males, and 11.99 years and 102.97 cm for females, respectively. Mean biennial fecundity was 19.4 eggs and 12.9 pups. A linear relationship between fecundities and length was found: Fe = 0.09 x TLp + 2.12 (r = 0.5) for pups and Fo = 0.27 x TLp - 21.59 (r = 0.7) for eggs.

  9. La Terapia Dialéctico Conductual para el tratamiento del Trastorno Límite de la Personalidad.

    OpenAIRE

    Matilde Elices; Soledad Cordero

    2011-01-01

    La Terapia Dialéctico Conductual (TDC) ha sido creada por la Dra. Marsha Linehan, para el tratamiento de pacientes con intentos suicidas recurrentes y diagnóstico de Trastorno Limite de la Personalidad (TLP). Es un modelo terapéutico perteneciente a la “tercera ola” en psicoterapias cognitivas, puesto que se basa en las ciencias del comportamiento e incluye elementos de Mindfulness y de la filosofía dialéctica. En la actualidad la TDC es el tratamiento con mayor evidencia empírica para el TLP...

  10. Design principles for robust oscillatory behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castillo-Hair, Sebastian M; Villota, Elizabeth R; Coronado, Alberto M

    2015-09-01

    Oscillatory responses are ubiquitous in regulatory networks of living organisms, a fact that has led to extensive efforts to study and replicate the circuits involved. However, to date, design principles that underlie the robustness of natural oscillators are not completely known. Here we study a three-component enzymatic network model in order to determine the topological requirements for robust oscillation. First, by simulating every possible topological arrangement and varying their parameter values, we demonstrate that robust oscillators can be obtained by augmenting the number of both negative feedback loops and positive autoregulations while maintaining an appropriate balance of positive and negative interactions. We then identify network motifs, whose presence in more complex topologies is a necessary condition for obtaining oscillatory responses. Finally, we pinpoint a series of simple architectural patterns that progressively render more robust oscillators. Together, these findings can help in the design of more reliable synthetic biomolecular networks and may also have implications in the understanding of other oscillatory systems.

  11. Robustness of Distance-to-Default

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jessen, Cathrine; Lando, David

    2013-01-01

    Distance-to-default is a remarkably robust measure for ranking firms according to their risk of default. The ranking seems to work despite the fact that the Merton model from which the measure is derived produces default probabilities that are far too small when applied to real data. We use...... simulations to investigate the robustness of the distance-to-default measure to different model specifications. Overall we find distance-to-default to be robust to a number of deviations from the simple Merton model that involve different asset value dynamics and different default triggering mechanisms....... A notable exception is a model with stochastic volatility of assets. In this case both the ranking of firms and the estimated default probabilities using distance-to-default perform significantly worse. We therefore propose a volatility adjustment of the distance-to-default measure, that significantly...

  12. Robustness of digital artist authentication

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jacobsen, Robert; Nielsen, Morten

    In many cases it is possible to determine the authenticity of a painting from digital reproductions of the paintings; this has been demonstrated for a variety of artists and with different approaches. Common to all these methods in digital artist authentication is that the potential of the method...... is in focus, while the robustness has not been considered, i.e. the degree to which the data collection process influences the decision of the method. However, in order for an authentication method to be successful in practice, it needs to be robust to plausible error sources from the data collection....... In this paper we investigate the robustness of the newly proposed authenticity method introduced by the authors based on second generation multiresolution analysis. This is done by modelling a number of realistic factors that can occur in the data collection....

  13. Adaptive Critic Nonlinear Robust Control: A Survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Ding; He, Haibo; Liu, Derong

    2017-10-01

    Adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) and reinforcement learning are quite relevant to each other when performing intelligent optimization. They are both regarded as promising methods involving important components of evaluation and improvement, at the background of information technology, such as artificial intelligence, big data, and deep learning. Although great progresses have been achieved and surveyed when addressing nonlinear optimal control problems, the research on robustness of ADP-based control strategies under uncertain environment has not been fully summarized. Hence, this survey reviews the recent main results of adaptive-critic-based robust control design of continuous-time nonlinear systems. The ADP-based nonlinear optimal regulation is reviewed, followed by robust stabilization of nonlinear systems with matched uncertainties, guaranteed cost control design of unmatched plants, and decentralized stabilization of interconnected systems. Additionally, further comprehensive discussions are presented, including event-based robust control design, improvement of the critic learning rule, nonlinear H ∞ control design, and several notes on future perspectives. By applying the ADP-based optimal and robust control methods to a practical power system and an overhead crane plant, two typical examples are provided to verify the effectiveness of theoretical results. Overall, this survey is beneficial to promote the development of adaptive critic control methods with robustness guarantee and the construction of higher level intelligent systems.

  14. A Robust Controller Structure for Pico-Satellite Applications

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kragelund, Martin Nygaard; Green, Martin; Kristensen, Mads

    This paper describes the development of a robust controller structure for use in pico-satellite missions. The structure relies on unknown disturbance estimation and use of robust control theory to implement a system that is robust to both unmodeled disturbances and parameter uncertainties. As one...

  15. Study of drain-extended NMOS under electrostatic discharge stress in 28 nm and 40 nm CMOS process

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Weihuai; Jin, Hao; Dong, Shurong; Zhong, Lei; Han, Yan

    2016-02-01

    Researches on the electrostatic discharge (ESD) performance of drain-extended NMOS (DeNMOS) under the state-of-the-art 28 nm and 40 nm bulk CMOS process are performed in this paper. Three distinguishing phases of avalanche breakdown stage, depletion region push-out stage and parasitic NPN turn on stage of the gate-grounded DeNMOS (GG-DeNMOS) fabricated under 28 nm CMOS process measured with transmission line pulsing (TLP) test are analyzed through TCAD simulations and tape-out silicon verification detailedly. Damage mechanisms and failure spots of GG-DeNMOS under both CMOS processes are thermal breakdown of drain junction. Improvements based on the basic structure adjustments can increase the GG-DeNMOS robustness from original 2.87 mA/μm to the highest 5.41 mA/μm. Under 40 nm process, parameter adjustments based on the basic structure have no significant benefits on the robustness improvements. By inserting P+ segments in the N+ implantation of drain or an entire P+ strip between the N+ implantation of drain and polysilicon gate to form the typical DeMOS-SCR (silicon-controlled rectifier) structure, the ESD robustness can be enhanced from 1.83 mA/μm to 8.79 mA/μm and 29.78 mA/μm, respectively.

  16. DC Algorithm for Extended Robust Support Vector Machine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fujiwara, Shuhei; Takeda, Akiko; Kanamori, Takafumi

    2017-05-01

    Nonconvex variants of support vector machines (SVMs) have been developed for various purposes. For example, robust SVMs attain robustness to outliers by using a nonconvex loss function, while extended [Formula: see text]-SVM (E[Formula: see text]-SVM) extends the range of the hyperparameter by introducing a nonconvex constraint. Here, we consider an extended robust support vector machine (ER-SVM), a robust variant of E[Formula: see text]-SVM. ER-SVM combines two types of nonconvexity from robust SVMs and E[Formula: see text]-SVM. Because of the two nonconvexities, the existing algorithm we proposed needs to be divided into two parts depending on whether the hyperparameter value is in the extended range or not. The algorithm also heuristically solves the nonconvex problem in the extended range. In this letter, we propose a new, efficient algorithm for ER-SVM. The algorithm deals with two types of nonconvexity while never entailing more computations than either E[Formula: see text]-SVM or robust SVM, and it finds a critical point of ER-SVM. Furthermore, we show that ER-SVM includes the existing robust SVMs as special cases. Numerical experiments confirm the effectiveness of integrating the two nonconvexities.

  17. Genome-wide analysis of eukaryote thaumatin-like proteins (TLPs with an emphasis on poplar

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Duplessis Sébastien

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Plant inducible immunity includes the accumulation of a set of defense proteins during infection called pathogenesis-related (PR proteins, which are grouped into families termed PR-1 to PR-17. The PR-5 family is composed of thaumatin-like proteins (TLPs, which are responsive to biotic and abiotic stress and are widely studied in plants. TLPs were also recently discovered in fungi and animals. In the poplar genome, TLPs are over-represented compared with annual species and their transcripts strongly accumulate during stress conditions. Results Our analysis of the poplar TLP family suggests that the expansion of this gene family was followed by diversification, as differences in expression patterns and predicted properties correlate with phylogeny. In particular, we identified a clade of poplar TLPs that cluster to a single 350 kb locus of chromosome I and that are up-regulated by poplar leaf rust infection. A wider phylogenetic analysis of eukaryote TLPs - including plant, animal and fungi sequences - shows that TLP gene content and diversity increased markedly during land plant evolution. Mapping the reported functions of characterized TLPs to the eukaryote phylogenetic tree showed that antifungal or glycan-lytic properties are widespread across eukaryote phylogeny, suggesting that these properties are shared by most TLPs and are likely associated with the presence of a conserved acidic cleft in their 3D structure. Also, we established an exhaustive catalog of TLPs with atypical architectures such as small-TLPs, TLP-kinases and small-TLP-kinases, which have potentially developed alternative functions (such as putative receptor kinases for pathogen sensing and signaling. Conclusion Our study, based on the most recent plant genome sequences, provides evidence for TLP gene family diversification during land plant evolution. We have shown that the diverse functions described for TLPs are not restricted to specific clades but seem

  18. Robustness-related issues in speaker recognition

    CERN Document Server

    Zheng, Thomas Fang

    2017-01-01

    This book presents an overview of speaker recognition technologies with an emphasis on dealing with robustness issues. Firstly, the book gives an overview of speaker recognition, such as the basic system framework, categories under different criteria, performance evaluation and its development history. Secondly, with regard to robustness issues, the book presents three categories, including environment-related issues, speaker-related issues and application-oriented issues. For each category, the book describes the current hot topics, existing technologies, and potential research focuses in the future. The book is a useful reference book and self-learning guide for early researchers working in the field of robust speech recognition.

  19. Robust Self Tuning Controllers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Poulsen, Niels Kjølstad

    1985-01-01

    The present thesis concerns robustness properties of adaptive controllers. It is addressed to methods for robustifying self tuning controllers with respect to abrupt changes in the plant parameters. In the thesis an algorithm for estimating abruptly changing parameters is presented. The estimator...... has several operation modes and a detector for controlling the mode. A special self tuning controller has been developed to regulate plant with changing time delay.......The present thesis concerns robustness properties of adaptive controllers. It is addressed to methods for robustifying self tuning controllers with respect to abrupt changes in the plant parameters. In the thesis an algorithm for estimating abruptly changing parameters is presented. The estimator...

  20. Robustness analysis of chiller sequencing control

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liao, Yundan; Sun, Yongjun; Huang, Gongsheng

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Uncertainties with chiller sequencing control were systematically quantified. • Robustness of chiller sequencing control was systematically analyzed. • Different sequencing control strategies were sensitive to different uncertainties. • A numerical method was developed for easy selection of chiller sequencing control. - Abstract: Multiple-chiller plant is commonly employed in the heating, ventilating and air-conditioning system to increase operational feasibility and energy-efficiency under part load condition. In a multiple-chiller plant, chiller sequencing control plays a key role in achieving overall energy efficiency while not sacrifices the cooling sufficiency for indoor thermal comfort. Various sequencing control strategies have been developed and implemented in practice. Based on the observation that (i) uncertainty, which cannot be avoided in chiller sequencing control, has a significant impact on the control performance and may cause the control fail to achieve the expected control and/or energy performance; and (ii) in current literature few studies have systematically addressed this issue, this paper therefore presents a study on robustness analysis of chiller sequencing control in order to understand the robustness of various chiller sequencing control strategies under different types of uncertainty. Based on the robustness analysis, a simple and applicable method is developed to select the most robust control strategy for a given chiller plant in the presence of uncertainties, which will be verified using case studies

  1. Attractive ellipsoids in robust control

    CERN Document Server

    Poznyak, Alexander; Azhmyakov, Vadim

    2014-01-01

    This monograph introduces a newly developed robust-control design technique for a wide class of continuous-time dynamical systems called the “attractive ellipsoid method.” Along with a coherent introduction to the proposed control design and related topics, the monograph studies nonlinear affine control systems in the presence of uncertainty and presents a constructive and easily implementable control strategy that guarantees certain stability properties. The authors discuss linear-style feedback control synthesis in the context of the above-mentioned systems. The development and physical implementation of high-performance robust-feedback controllers that work in the absence of complete information is addressed, with numerous examples to illustrate how to apply the attractive ellipsoid method to mechanical and electromechanical systems. While theorems are proved systematically, the emphasis is on understanding and applying the theory to real-world situations. Attractive Ellipsoids in Robust Control will a...

  2. Advances in robust fractional control

    CERN Document Server

    Padula, Fabrizio

    2015-01-01

    This monograph presents design methodologies for (robust) fractional control systems. It shows the reader how to take advantage of the superior flexibility of fractional control systems compared with integer-order systems in achieving more challenging control requirements. There is a high degree of current interest in fractional systems and fractional control arising from both academia and industry and readers from both milieux are catered to in the text. Different design approaches having in common a trade-off between robustness and performance of the control system are considered explicitly. The text generalizes methodologies, techniques and theoretical results that have been successfully applied in classical (integer) control to the fractional case. The first part of Advances in Robust Fractional Control is the more industrially-oriented. It focuses on the design of fractional controllers for integer processes. In particular, it considers fractional-order proportional-integral-derivative controllers, becau...

  3. Incentive-Compatible Robust Line Planning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bessas, Apostolos; Kontogiannis, Spyros; Zaroliagis, Christos

    The problem of robust line planning requests for a set of origin-destination paths (lines) along with their frequencies in an underlying railway network infrastructure, which are robust to fluctuations of real-time parameters of the solution. In this work, we investigate a variant of robust line planning stemming from recent regulations in the railway sector that introduce competition and free railway markets, and set up a new application scenario: there is a (potentially large) number of line operators that have their lines fixed and operate as competing entities issuing frequency requests, while the management of the infrastructure itself remains the responsibility of a single entity, the network operator. The line operators are typically unwilling to reveal their true incentives, while the network operator strives to ensure a fair (or socially optimal) usage of the infrastructure, e.g., by maximizing the (unknown to him) aggregate incentives of the line operators.

  4. Forecasting exchange rates: a robust regression approach

    OpenAIRE

    Preminger, Arie; Franck, Raphael

    2005-01-01

    The least squares estimation method as well as other ordinary estimation method for regression models can be severely affected by a small number of outliers, thus providing poor out-of-sample forecasts. This paper suggests a robust regression approach, based on the S-estimation method, to construct forecasting models that are less sensitive to data contamination by outliers. A robust linear autoregressive (RAR) and a robust neural network (RNN) models are estimated to study the predictabil...

  5. Robust-yet-fragile nature of interdependent networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, Fei; Xia, Yongxiang; Wei, Zhi

    2015-05-01

    Interdependent networks have been shown to be extremely vulnerable based on the percolation model. Parshani et al. [Europhys. Lett. 92, 68002 (2010), 10.1209/0295-5075/92/68002] further indicated that the more intersimilar networks are, the more robust they are to random failures. When traffic load is considered, how do the coupling patterns impact cascading failures in interdependent networks? This question has been largely unexplored until now. In this paper, we address this question by investigating the robustness of interdependent Erdös-Rényi random graphs and Barabási-Albert scale-free networks under either random failures or intentional attacks. It is found that interdependent Erdös-Rényi random graphs are robust yet fragile under either random failures or intentional attacks. Interdependent Barabási-Albert scale-free networks, however, are only robust yet fragile under random failures but fragile under intentional attacks. We further analyze the interdependent communication network and power grid and achieve similar results. These results advance our understanding of how interdependency shapes network robustness.

  6. Robust methods for automatic image-to-world registration in cone-beam CT interventional guidance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dang, H.; Otake, Y.; Schafer, S.; Stayman, J. W.; Kleinszig, G.; Siewerdsen, J. H.

    2012-01-01

    Purpose: Real-time surgical navigation relies on accurate image-to-world registration to align the coordinate systems of the image and patient. Conventional manual registration can present a workflow bottleneck and is prone to manual error and intraoperator variability. This work reports alternative means of automatic image-to-world registration, each method involving an automatic registration marker (ARM) used in conjunction with C-arm cone-beam CT (CBCT). The first involves a Known-Model registration method in which the ARM is a predefined tool, and the second is a Free-Form method in which the ARM is freely configurable. Methods: Studies were performed using a prototype C-arm for CBCT and a surgical tracking system. A simple ARM was designed with markers comprising a tungsten sphere within infrared reflectors to permit detection of markers in both x-ray projections and by an infrared tracker. The Known-Model method exercised a predefined specification of the ARM in combination with 3D-2D registration to estimate the transformation that yields the optimal match between forward projection of the ARM and the measured projection images. The Free-Form method localizes markers individually in projection data by a robust Hough transform approach extended from previous work, backprojected to 3D image coordinates based on C-arm geometric calibration. Image-domain point sets were transformed to world coordinates by rigid-body point-based registration. The robustness and registration accuracy of each method was tested in comparison to manual registration across a range of body sites (head, thorax, and abdomen) of interest in CBCT-guided surgery, including cases with interventional tools in the radiographic scene. Results: The automatic methods exhibited similar target registration error (TRE) and were comparable or superior to manual registration for placement of the ARM within ∼200 mm of C-arm isocenter. Marker localization in projection data was robust across all

  7. A robust classic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kutzner, Florian; Vogel, Tobias; Freytag, Peter; Fiedler, Klaus

    2011-01-01

    In the present research, we argue for the robustness of illusory correlations (ICs, Hamilton & Gifford, 1976) regarding two boundary conditions suggested in previous research. First, we argue that ICs are maintained under extended experience. Using simulations, we derive conflicting predictions. Whereas noise-based accounts predict ICs to be maintained (Fielder, 2000; Smith, 1991), a prominent account based on discrepancy-reducing feedback learning predicts ICs to disappear (Van Rooy et al., 2003). An experiment involving 320 observations with majority and minority members supports the claim that ICs are maintained. Second, we show that actively using the stereotype to make predictions that are met with reward and punishment does not eliminate the bias. In addition, participants' operant reactions afford a novel online measure of ICs. In sum, our findings highlight the robustness of ICs that can be explained as a result of unbiased but noisy learning.

  8. Comparing Four Instructional Techniques for Promoting Robust Knowledge

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richey, J. Elizabeth; Nokes-Malach, Timothy J.

    2015-01-01

    Robust knowledge serves as a common instructional target in academic settings. Past research identifying characteristics of experts' knowledge across many domains can help clarify the features of robust knowledge as well as ways of assessing it. We review the expertise literature and identify three key features of robust knowledge (deep,…

  9. Robust inference in sample selection models

    KAUST Repository

    Zhelonkin, Mikhail; Genton, Marc G.; Ronchetti, Elvezio

    2015-01-01

    The problem of non-random sample selectivity often occurs in practice in many fields. The classical estimators introduced by Heckman are the backbone of the standard statistical analysis of these models. However, these estimators are very sensitive to small deviations from the distributional assumptions which are often not satisfied in practice. We develop a general framework to study the robustness properties of estimators and tests in sample selection models. We derive the influence function and the change-of-variance function of Heckman's two-stage estimator, and we demonstrate the non-robustness of this estimator and its estimated variance to small deviations from the model assumed. We propose a procedure for robustifying the estimator, prove its asymptotic normality and give its asymptotic variance. Both cases with and without an exclusion restriction are covered. This allows us to construct a simple robust alternative to the sample selection bias test. We illustrate the use of our new methodology in an analysis of ambulatory expenditures and we compare the performance of the classical and robust methods in a Monte Carlo simulation study.

  10. Robust inference in sample selection models

    KAUST Repository

    Zhelonkin, Mikhail

    2015-11-20

    The problem of non-random sample selectivity often occurs in practice in many fields. The classical estimators introduced by Heckman are the backbone of the standard statistical analysis of these models. However, these estimators are very sensitive to small deviations from the distributional assumptions which are often not satisfied in practice. We develop a general framework to study the robustness properties of estimators and tests in sample selection models. We derive the influence function and the change-of-variance function of Heckman\\'s two-stage estimator, and we demonstrate the non-robustness of this estimator and its estimated variance to small deviations from the model assumed. We propose a procedure for robustifying the estimator, prove its asymptotic normality and give its asymptotic variance. Both cases with and without an exclusion restriction are covered. This allows us to construct a simple robust alternative to the sample selection bias test. We illustrate the use of our new methodology in an analysis of ambulatory expenditures and we compare the performance of the classical and robust methods in a Monte Carlo simulation study.

  11. Robust Priority for Strategic Environmental Assessment with Incomplete Information Using Multi-Criteria Decision Making Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daeryong Park

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available This study investigates how the priority rankings for dam construction sites vary with multi-criteria decision making (MCDM techniques and generation approaches for incomplete information. Strategic environmental assessment (SEA seeks to recommend sustainable dam construction sites based on their environmental and ecological impacts in a long-term plan for dam construction (LPDC in South Korea. However, if specific information is missing, the SEA is less useful for choosing a dam construction site. In this study, we applied AHP, ELECTRE III, PROMETHEE II and Compromise Programming as MCDM techniques, and used binomial and uniform distributions to generate missing information. We considered five dam site selection situations and compared the results as they depended on both MCDM techniques and information generation methods. The binomial generation method showed the most obvious priorities. All MCDM techniques showed similar priorities in the dam site selection results except for ELECTREE III. The results demonstrate that selecting an appropriate MCDM technique is more important than the data generation method. However, using binomial distribution to generate missing information is more effective in providing a robust priority than uniform distribution, which is a commonly used technique.

  12. REINA at CLEF 2007 Robust Track (2007)

    OpenAIRE

    Zazo, Ángel F.; G.-Figuerola, Carlos; Alonso-Berrocal, José-Luis

    2007-01-01

    This paper describes our work at CLEF 2007 Robust Task. We have participated in the monolingual (English, French and Portuguese) and the bilingual (English to French) subtask. At CLEF 2006 our research group obtained very good results applying local query expansion using windows of terms in the robust task. This year we have used the same expansion technique, but taking into account some criteria of robustness: MAP, GMAP, MMR, GS@10, P@10, number of failed topics, number of topics bellow 0.1 ...

  13. Robust methods for data reduction

    CERN Document Server

    Farcomeni, Alessio

    2015-01-01

    Robust Methods for Data Reduction gives a non-technical overview of robust data reduction techniques, encouraging the use of these important and useful methods in practical applications. The main areas covered include principal components analysis, sparse principal component analysis, canonical correlation analysis, factor analysis, clustering, double clustering, and discriminant analysis.The first part of the book illustrates how dimension reduction techniques synthesize available information by reducing the dimensionality of the data. The second part focuses on cluster and discriminant analy

  14. Homogeneous (Cu, Ni)6Sn5 intermetallic compound joints rapidly formed in asymmetrical Ni/Sn/Cu system using ultrasound-induced transient liquid phase soldering process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Z L; Dong, H J; Song, X G; Zhao, H Y; Tian, H; Liu, J H; Feng, J C; Yan, J C

    2018-04-01

    Homogeneous (Cu, Ni) 6 Sn 5 intermetallic compound (IMC) joints were rapidly formed in asymmetrical Ni/Sn/Cu system by an ultrasound-induced transient liquid phase (TLP) soldering process. In the traditional TLP soldering process, the intermetallic joints formed in Ni/Sn/Cu system consisted of major (Cu, Ni) 6 Sn 5 and minor Cu 3 Sn IMCs, and the grain morphology of (Cu, Ni) 6 Sn 5 IMCs subsequently exhibited fine rounded, needlelike and coarse rounded shapes from the Ni side to the Cu side, which was highly in accordance with the Ni concentration gradient across the joints. However, in the ultrasound-induced TLP soldering process, the intermetallic joints formed in Ni/Sn/Cu system only consisted of the (Cu, Ni) 6 Sn 5 IMCs which exhibited an uniform grain morphology of rounded shape with a remarkably narrowed Ni concentration gradient. The ultrasound-induced homogeneous intermetallic joints exhibited higher shear strength (61.6 MPa) than the traditional heterogeneous intermetallic joints (49.8 MPa). Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Effect of interlayer composition diffusion bonding behavior of an ods nickel alloy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saha, R.K.; Khan, T.I.

    2005-01-01

    Oxide dispersion strengthened superalloys have been developed with excellent mechanical properties for use at elevated temperatures. However, in order to achieve commercial application an appropriate joining process is necessary which minimizes the disruption to the alloy microstructure. In transient liquid phase (TLP) diffusion Hardness, and bonding technique an interlayer containing melting point depressants is placed between the bonding surfaces and at the bonding temperature this interlayer melts and solidifies isothermally. In this study, TLP bonding technique , was used to join a Ni-based ODS alloy, MA 758, using a number of different nickel based interlayer compositions, namely, Ni-Cr-Fe-Si-B-Co, Ni-Cr-B, Ni-P and Ni-Cr-Si-B. These foils are ductile and melt quickly within a narrow temperature range producing strong, non-porous joints. The results showed that the hold time at the bonding temperature affected the rate of isothermal solidification during the TLP bonding process. Furthermore, the use of a post-bond heat treatment helped to homogenize the joint region. (author)

  16. Robust surgery loading

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hans, Elias W.; Wullink, Gerhard; van Houdenhoven, Mark; Kazemier, Geert

    2008-01-01

    We consider the robust surgery loading problem for a hospital’s operating theatre department, which concerns assigning surgeries and sufficient planned slack to operating room days. The objective is to maximize capacity utilization and minimize the risk of overtime, and thus cancelled patients. This

  17. Robust policy choice under Calvo and Rotemberg pricing

    OpenAIRE

    Sienknecht, Sebastian

    2012-01-01

    This paper examines the robustness of welfare-based policy choices across the nonlinear Calvo and Rotemberg pricing assumptions. Comparisons between simple interest rate rules turn out to be robust and independent of the price dispersion inherent in the Calvo setting. This robustness is violated if there is a policy alternative that controls for price dispersion.

  18. Risk, Robustness and Water Resources Planning Under Uncertainty

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borgomeo, Edoardo; Mortazavi-Naeini, Mohammad; Hall, Jim W.; Guillod, Benoit P.

    2018-03-01

    Risk-based water resources planning is based on the premise that water managers should invest up to the point where the marginal benefit of risk reduction equals the marginal cost of achieving that benefit. However, this cost-benefit approach may not guarantee robustness under uncertain future conditions, for instance under climatic changes. In this paper, we expand risk-based decision analysis to explore possible ways of enhancing robustness in engineered water resources systems under different risk attitudes. Risk is measured as the expected annual cost of water use restrictions, while robustness is interpreted in the decision-theoretic sense as the ability of a water resource system to maintain performance—expressed as a tolerable risk of water use restrictions—under a wide range of possible future conditions. Linking risk attitudes with robustness allows stakeholders to explicitly trade-off incremental increases in robustness with investment costs for a given level of risk. We illustrate the framework through a case study of London's water supply system using state-of-the -art regional climate simulations to inform the estimation of risk and robustness.

  19. TAO-robust backpropagation learning algorithm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pernía-Espinoza, Alpha V; Ordieres-Meré, Joaquín B; Martínez-de-Pisón, Francisco J; González-Marcos, Ana

    2005-03-01

    In several fields, as industrial modelling, multilayer feedforward neural networks are often used as universal function approximations. These supervised neural networks are commonly trained by a traditional backpropagation learning format, which minimises the mean squared error (mse) of the training data. However, in the presence of corrupted data (outliers) this training scheme may produce wrong models. We combine the benefits of the non-linear regression model tau-estimates [introduced by Tabatabai, M. A. Argyros, I. K. Robust Estimation and testing for general nonlinear regression models. Applied Mathematics and Computation. 58 (1993) 85-101] with the backpropagation algorithm to produce the TAO-robust learning algorithm, in order to deal with the problems of modelling with outliers. The cost function of this approach has a bounded influence function given by the weighted average of two psi functions, one corresponding to a very robust estimate and the other to a highly efficient estimate. The advantages of the proposed algorithm are studied with an example.

  20. Robustness of holonomic quantum gates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Solinas, P.; Zanardi, P.; Zanghi, N.

    2005-01-01

    Full text: If the driving field fluctuates during the quantum evolution this produces errors in the applied operator. The holonomic (and geometrical) quantum gates are believed to be robust against some kind of noise. Because of the geometrical dependence of the holonomic operators can be robust against this kind of noise; in fact if the fluctuations are fast enough they cancel out leaving the final operator unchanged. I present the numerical studies of holonomic quantum gates subject to this parametric noise, the fidelity of the noise and ideal evolution is calculated for different noise correlation times. The holonomic quantum gates seem robust not only for fast fluctuating fields but also for slow fluctuating fields. These results can be explained as due to the geometrical feature of the holonomic operator: for fast fluctuating fields the fluctuations are canceled out, for slow fluctuating fields the fluctuations do not perturb the loop in the parameter space. (author)

  1. Robust estimation and hypothesis testing

    CERN Document Server

    Tiku, Moti L

    2004-01-01

    In statistical theory and practice, a certain distribution is usually assumed and then optimal solutions sought. Since deviations from an assumed distribution are very common, one cannot feel comfortable with assuming a particular distribution and believing it to be exactly correct. That brings the robustness issue in focus. In this book, we have given statistical procedures which are robust to plausible deviations from an assumed mode. The method of modified maximum likelihood estimation is used in formulating these procedures. The modified maximum likelihood estimators are explicit functions of sample observations and are easy to compute. They are asymptotically fully efficient and are as efficient as the maximum likelihood estimators for small sample sizes. The maximum likelihood estimators have computational problems and are, therefore, elusive. A broad range of topics are covered in this book. Solutions are given which are easy to implement and are efficient. The solutions are also robust to data anomali...

  2. An Intercompany Perspective on Biopharmaceutical Drug Product Robustness Studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morar-Mitrica, Sorina; Adams, Monica L; Crotts, George; Wurth, Christine; Ihnat, Peter M; Tabish, Tanvir; Antochshuk, Valentyn; DiLuzio, Willow; Dix, Daniel B; Fernandez, Jason E; Gupta, Kapil; Fleming, Michael S; He, Bing; Kranz, James K; Liu, Dingjiang; Narasimhan, Chakravarthy; Routhier, Eric; Taylor, Katherine D; Truong, Nobel; Stokes, Elaine S E

    2018-02-01

    The Biophorum Development Group (BPDG) is an industry-wide consortium enabling networking and sharing of best practices for the development of biopharmaceuticals. To gain a better understanding of current industry approaches for establishing biopharmaceutical drug product (DP) robustness, the BPDG-Formulation Point Share group conducted an intercompany collaboration exercise, which included a bench-marking survey and extensive group discussions around the scope, design, and execution of robustness studies. The results of this industry collaboration revealed several key common themes: (1) overall DP robustness is defined by both the formulation and the manufacturing process robustness; (2) robustness integrates the principles of quality by design (QbD); (3) DP robustness is an important factor in setting critical quality attribute control strategies and commercial specifications; (4) most companies employ robustness studies, along with prior knowledge, risk assessments, and statistics, to develop the DP design space; (5) studies are tailored to commercial development needs and the practices of each company. Three case studies further illustrate how a robustness study design for a biopharmaceutical DP balances experimental complexity, statistical power, scientific understanding, and risk assessment to provide the desired product and process knowledge. The BPDG-Formulation Point Share discusses identified industry challenges with regard to biopharmaceutical DP robustness and presents some recommendations for best practices. Copyright © 2018 American Pharmacists Association®. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Robust Structured Control Design via LMI Optimization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Adegas, Fabiano Daher; Stoustrup, Jakob

    2011-01-01

    This paper presents a new procedure for discrete-time robust structured control design. Parameter-dependent nonconvex conditions for stabilizable and induced L2-norm performance controllers are solved by an iterative linear matrix inequalities (LMI) optimization. A wide class of controller...... structures including decentralized of any order, fixed-order dynamic output feedback, static output feedback can be designed robust to polytopic uncertainties. Stability is proven by a parameter-dependent Lyapunov function. Numerical examples on robust stability margins shows that the proposed procedure can...

  4. The Crane Robust Control

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marek Hicar

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available The article is about a control design for complete structure of the crane: crab, bridge and crane uplift.The most important unknown parameters for simulations are burden weight and length of hanging rope. We will use robustcontrol for crab and bridge control to ensure adaptivity for burden weight and rope length. Robust control will be designed for current control of the crab and bridge, necessary is to know the range of unknown parameters. Whole robust will be splitto subintervals and after correct identification of unknown parameters the most suitable robust controllers will be chosen.The most important condition at the crab and bridge motion is avoiding from burden swinging in the final position. Crab and bridge drive is designed by asynchronous motor fed from frequency converter. We will use crane uplift with burden weightobserver in combination for uplift, crab and bridge drive with cooperation of their parameters: burden weight, rope length and crab and bridge position. Controllers are designed by state control method. We will use preferably a disturbance observerwhich will identify burden weight as a disturbance. The system will be working in both modes at empty hook as well asat maximum load: burden uplifting and dropping down.

  5. Developing a robust wireless sensor network structure for environmental sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Z.; Oroza, C.; Glaser, S. D.; Bales, R. C.; Conklin, M. H.

    2013-12-01

    The American River Hydrologic Observatory is being strategically deployed as a real-time ground-based measurement network that delivers accurate and timely information on snow conditions and other hydrologic attributes with a previously unheard of granularity of time and space. The basin-scale network involves 18 sub-networks set out at physiographically representative locations spanning the seasonally snow-covered half of the 5000 km2 American river basin. Each sub-network, covering about a 1-km2 area, consists of 10 wirelessly networked sensing nodes that continuously measure and telemeter temperature, and snow depth; plus selected locations are equipped with sensors for relative humidity, solar radiation, and soil moisture at several depths. The sensor locations were chosen to maximize the variance sampled for snow depth within the basin. Network design and deployment involves an iterative but efficient process. After sensor-station locations are determined, a robust network of interlinking sensor stations and signal repeaters must be constructed to route sensor data to a central base station with a two-way communicable data uplink. Data can then be uploaded from site to remote servers in real time through satellite and cell modems. Signal repeaters are placed for robustness of a self-healing network with redundant signal paths to the base station. Manual, trial-and-error heuristic approaches for node placement are inefficient and labor intensive. In that approach field personnel must restructure the network in real time and wait for new network statistics to be calculated at the base station before finalizing a placement, acting without knowledge of the global topography or overall network structure. We show how digital elevation plus high-definition aerial photographs to give foliage coverage can optimize planning of signal repeater placements and guarantee a robust network structure prior to the physical deployment. We can also 'stress test' the final network

  6. Robust structural optimization using Gauss-type quadrature formula

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Sang Hoon; Seo, Ki Seog; Chen, Shikui; Chen, Wei

    2009-01-01

    In robust design, the mean and variance of design performance are frequently used to measure the design performance and its robustness under uncertainties. In this paper, we present the Gauss-type quadrature formula as a rigorous method for mean and variance estimation involving arbitrary input distributions and further extend its use to robust design optimization. One dimensional Gauss-type quadrature formula are constructed from the input probability distributions and utilized in the construction of multidimensional quadrature formula such as the Tensor Product Quadrature (TPQ) formula and the Univariate Dimension Reduction (UDR) method. To improve the efficiency of using it for robust design optimization, a semi-analytic design sensitivity analysis with respect to the statistical moments is proposed. The proposed approach is applied to a simple bench mark problems and robust topology optimization of structures considering various types of uncertainty.

  7. Robust structural optimization using Gauss-type quadrature formula

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Sang Hoon; Seo, Ki Seog [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Chen, Shikui; Chen, Wei [Northwestern University, Illinois (United States)

    2009-07-01

    In robust design, the mean and variance of design performance are frequently used to measure the design performance and its robustness under uncertainties. In this paper, we present the Gauss-type quadrature formula as a rigorous method for mean and variance estimation involving arbitrary input distributions and further extend its use to robust design optimization. One dimensional Gauss-type quadrature formula are constructed from the input probability distributions and utilized in the construction of multidimensional quadrature formula such as the Tensor Product Quadrature (TPQ) formula and the Univariate Dimension Reduction (UDR) method. To improve the efficiency of using it for robust design optimization, a semi-analytic design sensitivity analysis with respect to the statistical moments is proposed. The proposed approach is applied to a simple bench mark problems and robust topology optimization of structures considering various types of uncertainty.

  8. Robust Structural Optimization Using Gauss-type Quadrature Formula

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Sang Hoon; Seo, Ki Seog; Chen, Shikui; Chen, Wei [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2009-08-15

    In robust design, the mean and variance of design performance are frequently used to measure the design performance and its robustness under uncertainties. In this paper, we present the Gauss-type quadrature formula as a rigorous method for mean and variance estimation involving arbitrary input distributions and further extend its use to robust design optimization. One dimensional Gauss-type quadrature formula are constructed from the input probability distributions and utilized in the construction of multidimensional quadrature formula such as the tensor product quadrature (TPQ) formula and the univariate dimension reduction (UDR) method. To improve the efficiency of using it for robust design optimization, a semi-analytic design sensitivity analysis with respect to the statistical moments is proposed. The proposed approach is applied to a simple bench mark problems and robust topology optimization of structures considering various types of uncertainty.

  9. Robust Structural Optimization Using Gauss-type Quadrature Formula

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Sang Hoon; Seo, Ki Seog; Chen, Shikui; Chen, Wei

    2009-01-01

    In robust design, the mean and variance of design performance are frequently used to measure the design performance and its robustness under uncertainties. In this paper, we present the Gauss-type quadrature formula as a rigorous method for mean and variance estimation involving arbitrary input distributions and further extend its use to robust design optimization. One dimensional Gauss-type quadrature formula are constructed from the input probability distributions and utilized in the construction of multidimensional quadrature formula such as the tensor product quadrature (TPQ) formula and the univariate dimension reduction (UDR) method. To improve the efficiency of using it for robust design optimization, a semi-analytic design sensitivity analysis with respect to the statistical moments is proposed. The proposed approach is applied to a simple bench mark problems and robust topology optimization of structures considering various types of uncertainty

  10. Robustness analysis of complex networks with power decentralization strategy via flow-sensitive centrality against cascading failures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Wenzhang; Wang, Hao; Wu, Zhengping

    2018-03-01

    Most existing cascading failure mitigation strategy of power grids based on complex network ignores the impact of electrical characteristics on dynamic performance. In this paper, the robustness of the power grid under a power decentralization strategy is analysed through cascading failure simulation based on AC flow theory. The flow-sensitive (FS) centrality is introduced by integrating topological features and electrical properties to help determine the siting of the generation nodes. The simulation results of the IEEE-bus systems show that the flow-sensitive centrality method is a more stable and accurate approach and can enhance the robustness of the network remarkably. Through the study of the optimal flow-sensitive centrality selection for different networks, we find that the robustness of the network with obvious small-world effect depends more on contribution of the generation nodes detected by community structure, otherwise, contribution of the generation nodes with important influence on power flow is more critical. In addition, community structure plays a significant role in balancing the power flow distribution and further slowing the propagation of failures. These results are useful in power grid planning and cascading failure prevention.

  11. Photosystem II repair and plant immunity: Lessons learned from Arabidopsis mutant lacking the THYLAKOID LUMEN PROTEIN 18.3

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sari eJärvi

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Chloroplasts play an important role in the cellular sensing of abiotic and biotic stress. Signals originating from photosynthetic light reactions, in the form of redox and pH changes, accumulation of reactive oxygen and electrophile species or stromal metabolites are of key importance in chloroplast retrograde signaling. These signals initiate plant acclimation responses to both abiotic and biotic stresses. To reveal the molecular responses activated by rapid fluctuations in growth light intensity, gene expression analysis was performed with Arabidopsis thaliana wild type and the tlp18.3 mutant plants, the latter showing a stunted growth phenotype under fluctuating light conditions (Biochem. J, 406, 415-425. Expression pattern of genes encoding components of the photosynthetic electron transfer chain did not differ between fluctuating and constant light conditions, neither in wild type nor in tlp18.3 plants, and the composition of the thylakoid membrane protein complexes likewise remained unchanged. Nevertheless, the fluctuating light conditions repressed in wild-type plants a broad spectrum of genes involved in immune responses, which likely resulted from shade-avoidance responses and their intermixing with hormonal signaling. On the contrary, in the tlp18.3 mutant plants there was an imperfect repression of defense-related transcripts upon growth under fluctuating light, possibly by signals originating from minor malfunction of the photosystem II (PSII repair cycle, which directly or indirectly modulated the transcript abundances of genes related to light perception via phytochromes. Consequently, a strong allocation of resources to defense reactions in the tlp18.3 mutant plants presumably results in the stunted growth phenotype under fluctuating light.

  12. Perspective: Evolution and detection of genetic robustness

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Visser, de J.A.G.M.; Hermisson, J.; Wagner, G.P.; Ancel Meyers, L.; Bagheri-Chaichian, H.; Blanchard, J.L.; Chao, L.; Cheverud, J.M.; Elena, S.F.; Fontana, W.; Gibson, G.; Hansen, T.F.; Krakauer, D.; Lewontin, R.C.; Ofria, C.; Rice, S.H.; Dassow, von G.; Wagner, A.; Whitlock, M.C.

    2003-01-01

    Robustness is the invariance of phenotypes in the face of perturbation. The robustness of phenotypes appears at various levels of biological organization, including gene expression, protein folding, metabolic flux, physiological homeostasis, development, and even organismal fitness. The mechanisms

  13. Emergence of robustness in networks of networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roth, Kevin; Morone, Flaviano; Min, Byungjoon; Makse, Hernán A.

    2017-06-01

    A model of interdependent networks of networks (NONs) was introduced recently [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA) 114, 3849 (2017), 10.1073/pnas.1620808114] in the context of brain activation to identify the neural collective influencers in the brain NON. Here we investigate the emergence of robustness in such a model, and we develop an approach to derive an exact expression for the random percolation transition in Erdös-Rényi NONs of this kind. Analytical calculations are in agreement with numerical simulations, and highlight the robustness of the NON against random node failures, which thus presents a new robust universality class of NONs. The key aspect of this robust NON model is that a node can be activated even if it does not belong to the giant mutually connected component, thus allowing the NON to be built from below the percolation threshold, which is not possible in previous models of interdependent networks. Interestingly, the phase diagram of the model unveils particular patterns of interconnectivity for which the NON is most vulnerable, thereby marking the boundary above which the robustness of the system improves with increasing dependency connections.

  14. Framework for Robustness Assessment of Timber Structures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2011-01-01

    This paper presents a theoretical framework for the design and analysis of robustness of timber structures. This is actualized by a more4 frequent use of advanced types of timber structures with limited redundancy and serious consequences in the case of failure. Combined with increased requirements...... to efficiency in design and execution followed by increased risk of human errors has made the need of requirements to robustness of new structures essential. Further, the collapse of the Ballerup Super Arena, the bad Reichenhall Ice-Arena and a number of other structural systems during the last 10 years has...... increased the interest in robustness. Typically, modern structural design codes require that ‘the consequence of damages to structures should not be disproportional to the causes of the damages’. However, although the importance of robustness for structural design is widely recognized, the code requirements...

  15. Designing Phononic Crystals with Wide and Robust Band Gaps

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jia, Zian; Chen, Yanyu; Yang, Haoxiang; Wang, Lifeng

    2018-04-01

    Phononic crystals (PnCs) engineered to manipulate and control the propagation of mechanical waves have enabled the design of a range of novel devices, such as waveguides, frequency modulators, and acoustic cloaks, for which wide and robust phononic band gaps are highly preferable. While numerous PnCs have been designed in recent decades, to the best of our knowledge, PnCs that possess simultaneous wide and robust band gaps (to randomness and deformations) have not yet been reported. Here, we demonstrate that by combining the band-gap formation mechanisms of Bragg scattering and local resonances (the latter one is dominating), PnCs with wide and robust phononic band gaps can be established. The robustness of the phononic band gaps are then discussed from two aspects: robustness to geometric randomness (manufacture defects) and robustness to deformations (mechanical stimuli). Analytical formulations further predict the optimal design parameters, and an uncertainty analysis quantifies the randomness effect of each designing parameter. Moreover, we show that the deformation robustness originates from a local resonance-dominant mechanism together with the suppression of structural instability. Importantly, the proposed PnCs require only a small number of layers of elements (three unit cells) to obtain broad, robust, and strong attenuation bands, which offer great potential in designing flexible and deformable phononic devices.

  16. Designing Phononic Crystals with Wide and Robust Band Gaps

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chen, Yanyu [National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Jia, Zian [State University of New York at Stony Brook; Yang, Haoxiang [State University of New York at Stony Brook; Wang, Lifeng [State University of New York at Stony Brook

    2018-04-16

    Phononic crystals (PnCs) engineered to manipulate and control the propagation of mechanical waves have enabled the design of a range of novel devices, such as waveguides, frequency modulators, and acoustic cloaks, for which wide and robust phononic band gaps are highly preferable. While numerous PnCs have been designed in recent decades, to the best of our knowledge, PnCs that possess simultaneous wide and robust band gaps (to randomness and deformations) have not yet been reported. Here, we demonstrate that by combining the band-gap formation mechanisms of Bragg scattering and local resonances (the latter one is dominating), PnCs with wide and robust phononic band gaps can be established. The robustness of the phononic band gaps are then discussed from two aspects: robustness to geometric randomness (manufacture defects) and robustness to deformations (mechanical stimuli). Analytical formulations further predict the optimal design parameters, and an uncertainty analysis quantifies the randomness effect of each designing parameter. Moreover, we show that the deformation robustness originates from a local resonance-dominant mechanism together with the suppression of structural instability. Importantly, the proposed PnCs require only a small number of layers of elements (three unit cells) to obtain broad, robust, and strong attenuation bands, which offer great potential in designing flexible and deformable phononic devices.

  17. A Robust Design Applicability Model

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ebro, Martin; Lars, Krogstie; Howard, Thomas J.

    2015-01-01

    to be applicable in organisations assigning a high importance to one or more factors that are known to be impacted by RD, while also experiencing a high level of occurrence of this factor. The RDAM supplements existing maturity models and metrics to provide a comprehensive set of data to support management......This paper introduces a model for assessing the applicability of Robust Design (RD) in a project or organisation. The intention of the Robust Design Applicability Model (RDAM) is to provide support for decisions by engineering management considering the relevant level of RD activities...

  18. Physiological limitation at alpine treeline: relationships of threshold responses of conifers to their establishment patterns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Germino, M. J.; Lazarus, B.; Castanha, C.; Moyes, A. B.; Kueppers, L. M.

    2014-12-01

    An understanding of physiological limitations to tree establishment at alpine treeline form the basis for predicting how this climate-driven boundary will respond to climate shifts. Most research on this topic has focused on limitations related to carbon balance and growth of trees. Carbon balance could limit survival and establishment primarily through slow-acting, chronic means. We asked whether tree survival and thus establishment patterns reflect control by chronic effects in comparison to acute, threshold responses, such as survival of frost events. Seedling survivorship patterns were compared to thresholds in freezing (temperature causing leaf freezing, or freezing point, FP; and physiological response to freezing) and water status (turgor loss point, TLP; and related physiological adjustments). Subject seedlings were from forest, treeline, and alpine sites in the Alpine Treeline Warming Experiment in Colorado, and included limber and lodgepole pine (a low-elevation species), and Engelmann Spruce. Preliminary results show survival increases with seedling age, but the only corresponding increase in stress acclimation was photosynthetic resistance to freezing and TLP, not FP. Differences in survivorship among the species were not consistent with variation in FP but they generally agreed with variation in photosynthetic resistance to deep freezing and to early-season drought avoidance. Mortality of limber pine increased 35% when minimum temperatures decreased below -9C, which compares with FPs of >-8.6C, and about 1/3 of its mortality occurred during cold/wet events, particularly in the alpine. The other major correlate of mortality is midsummer drying events, as previously reported. Also in limber pine, the TLP for year-old seedlings (-2.5 MPa) corresponded with seasonal-drought mortality. In summary, we show several examples of correspondence in physiological thresholds to mortality events within a species, although the relationships are not strong. Across

  19. Robust Forecasting of Non-Stationary Time Series

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Croux, C.; Fried, R.; Gijbels, I.; Mahieu, K.

    2010-01-01

    This paper proposes a robust forecasting method for non-stationary time series. The time series is modelled using non-parametric heteroscedastic regression, and fitted by a localized MM-estimator, combining high robustness and large efficiency. The proposed method is shown to produce reliable

  20. Robust Portfolio Optimization using CAPM Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    mohsen gharakhani

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, a new robust model of multi-period portfolio problem has been developed. One of the key concerns in any asset allocation problem is how to cope with uncertainty about future returns. There are some approaches in the literature for this purpose including stochastic programming and robust optimization. Applying these techniques to multi-period portfolio problem may increase the problem size in a way that the resulting model is intractable. In this paper, a novel approach has been proposed to formulate multi-period portfolio problem as an uncertain linear program assuming that asset return follows the single-index factor model. Robust optimization technique has been also used to solve the problem. In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed model, a numerical example has been applied using simulated data.

  1. Parametric uncertainty modeling for robust control

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rasmussen, K.H.; Jørgensen, Sten Bay

    1999-01-01

    The dynamic behaviour of a non-linear process can often be approximated with a time-varying linear model. In the presented methodology the dynamics is modeled non-conservatively as parametric uncertainty in linear lime invariant models. The obtained uncertainty description makes it possible...... to perform robustness analysis on a control system using the structured singular value. The idea behind the proposed method is to fit a rational function to the parameter variation. The parameter variation can then be expressed as a linear fractional transformation (LFT), It is discussed how the proposed...... point changes. It is shown that a diagonal PI control structure provides robust performance towards variations in feed flow rate or feed concentrations. However including both liquid and vapor flow delays robust performance specifications cannot be satisfied with this simple diagonal control structure...

  2. In Silico Design of Robust Bolalipid Membranes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bulacu, Monica; Periole, Xavier; Marrink, Siewert J.; Périole, Xavier

    The robustness of microorganisms used in industrial fermentations is essential for the efficiency and yield of the production process. A viable tool to increase the robustness is through engineering of the cell membrane and especially by incorporating lipids from species that survive under harsh

  3. Extending the Scope of Robust Quadratic Optimization

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Marandi, Ahmadreza; Ben-Tal, A.; den Hertog, Dick; Melenberg, Bertrand

    In this paper, we derive tractable reformulations of the robust counterparts of convex quadratic and conic quadratic constraints with concave uncertainties for a broad range of uncertainty sets. For quadratic constraints with convex uncertainty, it is well-known that the robust counterpart is, in

  4. Applying Robust Design in an Industrial Context

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Martin Ebro

    mechanical architectures. Furthermore a set of 15 robust design principles for reducing the variation in functional performance is compiled in a format directly supporting the work of the design engineer. With these foundational methods in place, the existing tools, methods and KPIs of Robust Design...

  5. Efficient reanalysis techniques for robust topology optimization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Amir, Oded; Sigmund, Ole; Lazarov, Boyan Stefanov

    2012-01-01

    efficient robust topology optimization procedures based on reanalysis techniques. The approach is demonstrated on two compliant mechanism design problems where robust design is achieved by employing either a worst case formulation or a stochastic formulation. It is shown that the time spent on finite...

  6. Robust Learning Control Design for Quantum Unitary Transformations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Chengzhi; Qi, Bo; Chen, Chunlin; Dong, Daoyi

    2017-12-01

    Robust control design for quantum unitary transformations has been recognized as a fundamental and challenging task in the development of quantum information processing due to unavoidable decoherence or operational errors in the experimental implementation of quantum operations. In this paper, we extend the systematic methodology of sampling-based learning control (SLC) approach with a gradient flow algorithm for the design of robust quantum unitary transformations. The SLC approach first uses a "training" process to find an optimal control strategy robust against certain ranges of uncertainties. Then a number of randomly selected samples are tested and the performance is evaluated according to their average fidelity. The approach is applied to three typical examples of robust quantum transformation problems including robust quantum transformations in a three-level quantum system, in a superconducting quantum circuit, and in a spin chain system. Numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the SLC approach and show its potential applications in various implementation of quantum unitary transformations.

  7. An Overview of the Adaptive Robust DFT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Djurović Igor

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract This paper overviews basic principles and applications of the robust DFT (RDFT approach, which is used for robust processing of frequency-modulated (FM signals embedded in non-Gaussian heavy-tailed noise. In particular, we concentrate on the spectral analysis and filtering of signals corrupted by impulsive distortions using adaptive and nonadaptive robust estimators. Several adaptive estimators of location parameter are considered, and it is shown that their application is preferable with respect to non-adaptive counterparts. This fact is demonstrated by efficiency comparison of adaptive and nonadaptive RDFT methods for different noise environments.

  8. Evolution favors protein mutational robustness in sufficiently large populations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Venturelli Ophelia S

    2007-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background An important question is whether evolution favors properties such as mutational robustness or evolvability that do not directly benefit any individual, but can influence the course of future evolution. Functionally similar proteins can differ substantially in their robustness to mutations and capacity to evolve new functions, but it has remained unclear whether any of these differences might be due to evolutionary selection for these properties. Results Here we use laboratory experiments to demonstrate that evolution favors protein mutational robustness if the evolving population is sufficiently large. We neutrally evolve cytochrome P450 proteins under identical selection pressures and mutation rates in populations of different sizes, and show that proteins from the larger and thus more polymorphic population tend towards higher mutational robustness. Proteins from the larger population also evolve greater stability, a biophysical property that is known to enhance both mutational robustness and evolvability. The excess mutational robustness and stability is well described by mathematical theory, and can be quantitatively related to the way that the proteins occupy their neutral network. Conclusion Our work is the first experimental demonstration of the general tendency of evolution to favor mutational robustness and protein stability in highly polymorphic populations. We suggest that this phenomenon could contribute to the mutational robustness and evolvability of viruses and bacteria that exist in large populations.

  9. Feedforward/feedback control synthesis for performance and robustness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wie, Bong; Liu, Qiang

    1990-01-01

    Both feedforward and feedback control approaches for uncertain dynamical systems are investigated. The control design objective is to achieve a fast settling time (high performance) and robustness (insensitivity) to plant modeling uncertainty. Preshapong of an ideal, time-optimal control input using a 'tapped-delay' filter is shown to provide a rapid maneuver with robust performance. A robust, non-minimum-phase feedback controller is synthesized with particular emphasis on its proper implementation for a non-zero set-point control problem. The proposed feedforward/feedback control approach is robust for a certain class of uncertain dynamical systems, since the control input command computed for a given desired output does not depend on the plant parameters.

  10. PARAMETER COORDINATION AND ROBUST OPTIMIZATION FOR MULTIDISCIPLINARY DESIGN

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    HU Jie; PENG Yinghong; XIONG Guangleng

    2006-01-01

    A new parameter coordination and robust optimization approach for multidisciplinary design is presented. Firstly, the constraints network model is established to support engineering change, coordination and optimization. In this model, interval boxes are adopted to describe the uncertainty of design parameters quantitatively to enhance the design robustness. Secondly, the parameter coordination method is presented to solve the constraints network model, monitor the potential conflicts due to engineering changes, and obtain the consistency solution space corresponding to the given product specifications. Finally, the robust parameter optimization model is established, and genetic arithmetic is used to obtain the robust optimization parameter. An example of bogie design is analyzed to show the scheme to be effective.

  11. Characterizing the Catalytic Potential of Deinococcus, Arthrobacter and other Robust Bacteria in Contaminated Subsurface Environments of the Hanford Site

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Daly, Michael J.

    2005-06-01

    Natural selection in highly radioactive waste sites may yield bacteria with favorable bioremediating characteristics. However, until recently the microbial ecology of such environments has remained unexplored because of the high costs and technical complexities associated with extracting and characterizing samples from such sites. We have examined the bacterial ecology within radioactive sediments from a high-level nuclear waste plume in the vadose zone on the DOE?s Hanford Site in south-central Washington state (Fredrickson et al, 2004). Manganese-dependent, radiation resistant bacteria have been isolated from this contaminated site including the highly Mn-dependent Deinococcus and Arthrobacter spp.

  12. Three Contributions to Robust Regression Diagnostics

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Kalina, Jan

    2015-01-01

    Roč. 11, č. 2 (2015), s. 69-78 ISSN 1336-9180 Grant - others:GA ČR(CZ) GA13-01930S; Nadační fond na podporu vědy(CZ) Neuron Institutional support: RVO:67985807 Keywords : robust regression * robust econometrics * hypothesis test ing Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/jamsi.2015.11.issue-2/jamsi-2015-0013/jamsi-2015-0013.xml?format=INT

  13. Robustness Analysis of Visual QA Models by Basic Questions

    KAUST Repository

    Huang, Jia-Hong

    2017-09-14

    Visual Question Answering (VQA) models should have both high robustness and accuracy. Unfortunately, most of the current VQA research only focuses on accuracy because there is a lack of proper methods to measure the robustness of VQA models. There are two main modules in our algorithm. Given a natural language question about an image, the first module takes the question as input and then outputs the ranked basic questions, with similarity scores, of the main given question. The second module takes the main question, image and these basic questions as input and then outputs the text-based answer of the main question about the given image. We claim that a robust VQA model is one, whose performance is not changed much when related basic questions as also made available to it as input. We formulate the basic questions generation problem as a LASSO optimization, and also propose a large scale Basic Question Dataset (BQD) and Rscore (novel robustness measure), for analyzing the robustness of VQA models. We hope our BQD will be used as a benchmark for to evaluate the robustness of VQA models, so as to help the community build more robust and accurate VQA models.

  14. Robustness Analysis of Visual QA Models by Basic Questions

    KAUST Repository

    Huang, Jia-Hong; Alfadly, Modar; Ghanem, Bernard

    2017-01-01

    Visual Question Answering (VQA) models should have both high robustness and accuracy. Unfortunately, most of the current VQA research only focuses on accuracy because there is a lack of proper methods to measure the robustness of VQA models. There are two main modules in our algorithm. Given a natural language question about an image, the first module takes the question as input and then outputs the ranked basic questions, with similarity scores, of the main given question. The second module takes the main question, image and these basic questions as input and then outputs the text-based answer of the main question about the given image. We claim that a robust VQA model is one, whose performance is not changed much when related basic questions as also made available to it as input. We formulate the basic questions generation problem as a LASSO optimization, and also propose a large scale Basic Question Dataset (BQD) and Rscore (novel robustness measure), for analyzing the robustness of VQA models. We hope our BQD will be used as a benchmark for to evaluate the robustness of VQA models, so as to help the community build more robust and accurate VQA models.

  15. Structural Robustness Evaluation of Offshore Wind Turbines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Giuliani, Luisa; Bontempi, Franco

    2010-01-01

    in the framework of a safe design: it depends on different factors, like exposure, vulnerability and robustness. Particularly, the requirement of structural vulnerability and robustness are discussed in this paper and a numerical application is presented, in order to evaluate the effects of a ship collision...

  16. Self-optimizing robust nonlinear model predictive control

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lazar, M.; Heemels, W.P.M.H.; Jokic, A.; Thoma, M.; Allgöwer, F.; Morari, M.

    2009-01-01

    This paper presents a novel method for designing robust MPC schemes that are self-optimizing in terms of disturbance attenuation. The method employs convex control Lyapunov functions and disturbance bounds to optimize robustness of the closed-loop system on-line, at each sampling instant - a unique

  17. Robustness of dynamic systems with parameter uncertainties

    CERN Document Server

    Balemi, S; Truöl, W

    1992-01-01

    Robust Control is one of the fastest growing and promising areas of research today. In many practical systems there exist uncertainties which have to be considered in the analysis and design of control systems. In the last decade methods were developed for dealing with dynamic systems with unstructured uncertainties such as HOO_ and £I-optimal control. For systems with parameter uncertainties, the seminal paper of V. L. Kharitonov has triggered a large amount of very promising research. An international workshop dealing with all aspects of robust control was successfully organized by S. P. Bhattacharyya and L. H. Keel in San Antonio, Texas, USA in March 1991. We organized the second international workshop in this area in Ascona, Switzer­ land in April 1992. However, this second workshop was restricted to robust control of dynamic systems with parameter uncertainties with the objective to concentrate on some aspects of robust control. This book contains a collection of papers presented at the International W...

  18. Robust and Adaptive Control With Aerospace Applications

    CERN Document Server

    Lavretsky, Eugene

    2013-01-01

    Robust and Adaptive Control shows the reader how to produce consistent and accurate controllers that operate in the presence of uncertainties and unforeseen events. Driven by aerospace applications the focus of the book is primarily on continuous-dynamical systems.  The text is a three-part treatment, beginning with robust and optimal linear control methods and moving on to a self-contained presentation of the design and analysis of model reference adaptive control (MRAC) for nonlinear uncertain dynamical systems. Recent extensions and modifications to MRAC design are included, as are guidelines for combining robust optimal and MRAC controllers. Features of the text include: ·         case studies that demonstrate the benefits of robust and adaptive control for piloted, autonomous and experimental aerial platforms; ·         detailed background material for each chapter to motivate theoretical developments; ·         realistic examples and simulation data illustrating key features ...

  19. Criteria for robustness of heteroclinic cycles in neural microcircuits

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    We introduce a test for robustness of heteroclinic cycles that appear in neural microcircuits modeled as coupled dynamical cells. Robust heteroclinic cycles (RHCs) can appear as robust attractors in Lotka-Volterra-type winnerless competition (WLC) models as well as in more general coupled and/or symmetric systems. It has been previously suggested that RHCs may be relevant to a range of neural activities, from encoding and binding to spatio-temporal sequence generation. The robustness or otherwise of such cycles depends both on the coupling structure and the internal structure of the neurons. We verify that robust heteroclinic cycles can appear in systems of three identical cells, but only if we require perturbations to preserve some invariant subspaces for the individual cells. On the other hand, heteroclinic attractors can appear robustly in systems of four or more identical cells for some symmetric coupling patterns, without restriction on the internal dynamics of the cells. PMID:22656192

  20. Robust Instrumentation[Water treatment for power plant]; Robust Instrumentering

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wik, Anders [Vattenfall Utveckling AB, Stockholm (Sweden)

    2003-08-01

    Cementa Slite Power Station is a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) with moderate steam data; 3.0 MPa and 420 deg C. The heat is recovered from Cementa, a cement industry, without any usage of auxiliary fuel. The Power station commenced operation in 2001. The layout of the plant is unusual, there are no similar in Sweden and very few world-wide, so the operational experiences are limited. In connection with the commissioning of the power plant a R and D project was identified with the objective to minimise the manpower needed for chemistry management of the plant. The lean chemistry management is based on robust instrumentation and chemical-free water treatment plant. The concept with robust instrumentation consists of the following components; choice of on-line instrumentation with a minimum of O and M and a chemical-free water treatment. The parameters are specific conductivity, cation conductivity, oxygen and pH. In addition to that, two fairly new on-line instruments were included; corrosion monitors and differential pH calculated from specific and cation conductivity. The chemical-free water treatment plant consists of softening, reverse osmosis and electro-deionisation. The operational experience shows that the cycle chemistry is not within the guidelines due to major problems with the operation of the power plant. These problems have made it impossible to reach steady state and thereby not viable to fully verify and validate the concept with robust instrumentation. From readings on the panel of the online analysers some conclusions may be drawn, e.g. the differential pH measurements have fulfilled the expectations. The other on-line analysers have been working satisfactorily apart from contamination with turbine oil, which has been noticed at least twice. The corrosion monitors seem to be working but the lack of trend curves from the mainframe computer system makes it hard to draw any clear conclusions. The chemical-free water treatment has met all

  1. Harmonization of multi-site diffusion tensor imaging data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fortin, Jean-Philippe; Parker, Drew; Tunç, Birkan; Watanabe, Takanori; Elliott, Mark A; Ruparel, Kosha; Roalf, David R; Satterthwaite, Theodore D; Gur, Ruben C; Gur, Raquel E; Schultz, Robert T; Verma, Ragini; Shinohara, Russell T

    2017-11-01

    Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a well-established magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique used for studying microstructural changes in the white matter. As with many other imaging modalities, DTI images suffer from technical between-scanner variation that hinders comparisons of images across imaging sites, scanners and over time. Using fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) maps of 205 healthy participants acquired on two different scanners, we show that the DTI measurements are highly site-specific, highlighting the need of correcting for site effects before performing downstream statistical analyses. We first show evidence that combining DTI data from multiple sites, without harmonization, may be counter-productive and negatively impacts the inference. Then, we propose and compare several harmonization approaches for DTI data, and show that ComBat, a popular batch-effect correction tool used in genomics, performs best at modeling and removing the unwanted inter-site variability in FA and MD maps. Using age as a biological phenotype of interest, we show that ComBat both preserves biological variability and removes the unwanted variation introduced by site. Finally, we assess the different harmonization methods in the presence of different levels of confounding between site and age, in addition to test robustness to small sample size studies. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. The robust corrective action priority-an improved approach for selecting competing corrective actions in FMEA based on principle of robust design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sutrisno, Agung; Gunawan, Indra; Vanany, Iwan

    2017-11-01

    In spite of being integral part in risk - based quality improvement effort, studies improving quality of selection of corrective action priority using FMEA technique are still limited in literature. If any, none is considering robustness and risk in selecting competing improvement initiatives. This study proposed a theoretical model to select risk - based competing corrective action by considering robustness and risk of competing corrective actions. We incorporated the principle of robust design in counting the preference score among corrective action candidates. Along with considering cost and benefit of competing corrective actions, we also incorporate the risk and robustness of corrective actions. An example is provided to represent the applicability of the proposed model.

  3. Robust Control of an Ill-Conditioned Aircraft

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Breslin, S.G.; Tøffner-Clausen, S.; Grimble, M.J.

    1996-01-01

    A robust controller is designed for a linear model of an Advanced Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (ASTOVL) aircraft at one operating point.......A robust controller is designed for a linear model of an Advanced Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (ASTOVL) aircraft at one operating point....

  4. Robust Control Charts for Time Series Data

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Croux, C.; Gelper, S.; Mahieu, K.

    2010-01-01

    This article presents a control chart for time series data, based on the one-step- ahead forecast errors of the Holt-Winters forecasting method. We use robust techniques to prevent that outliers affect the estimation of the control limits of the chart. Moreover, robustness is important to maintain

  5. Assessment of Process Robustness for Mass Customization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Kjeld; Brunø, Thomas Ditlev

    2013-01-01

    robustness and their capability to develop it. Through literature study and analysis of robust process design characteristics a number of metrics are described which can be used for assessment. The metrics are evaluated and analyzed to be applied as KPI’s to help MC companies prioritize efforts in business...

  6. A fully robust PARAFAC method for analyzing fluorescence data

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Engelen, Sanne; Frosch, Stina; Jørgensen, Bo

    2009-01-01

    and Rayleigh scatter. Recently, a robust PARAFAC method that circumvents the harmful effects of outlying samples has been developed. For removing the scatter effects on the final PARAFAC model, different techniques exist. Newly, an automated scatter identification tool has been constructed. However......, there still exists no robust method for handling fluorescence data encountering both outlying EEM landscapes and scatter. In this paper, we present an iterative algorithm where the robust PARAFAC method and the scatter identification tool are alternately performed. A fully automated robust PARAFAC method...

  7. Lyapunov stability robust analysis and robustness design for linear continuous-time systems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Luo, J.S.; Johnson, A.; Bosch, van den P.P.J.

    1995-01-01

    The linear continuous-time systems to be discussed are described by state space models with structured time-varying uncertainties. First, the explicit maximal perturbation bound for maintaining quadratic Lyapunov stability of the closed-loop systems is presented. Then, a robust design method is

  8. Competition improves robustness against loss of information

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arash eKermani Kolankeh

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available A substantial number of works aimed at modeling the receptive field properties of the primary visual cortex (V1. Their evaluation criterion is usually the similarity of the model response properties to the recorded responses from biological organisms. However, as several algorithms were able to demonstrate some degree of similarity to biological data based on the existing criteria, we focus on the robustness against loss of information in the form of occlusions as an additional constraint for better understanding the algorithmic level of early vision in the brain. We try to investigate the influence of competition mechanisms on the robustness. Therefore, we compared four methods employing different competition mechanisms, namely, independent component analysis, non-negative matrix factorization with sparseness constraint, predictive coding/biased competition, and a Hebbian neural network with lateral inhibitory connections. Each of those methods is known to be capable of developing receptive fields comparable to those of V1 simple-cells. Since measuring the robustness of methods having simple-cell like receptive fields against occlusion is difficult, we measure the robustness using the classification accuracy on the MNIST hand written digit dataset. For this we trained all methods on the training set of the MNIST hand written digits dataset and tested them on a MNIST test set with different levels of occlusions. We observe that methods which employ competitive mechanisms have higher robustness against loss of information. Also the kind of the competition mechanisms plays an important role in robustness. Global feedback inhibition as employed in predictive coding/biased competition has an advantage compared to local lateral inhibition learned by an anti-Hebb rule.

  9. Robust Performance of Systems with Structured Uncertainties in State Space

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhou, Kemin; Khargonekar, Pramod P.; Stoustrup, Jakob

    1995-01-01

    This paper considers robust performance analysis and state feedback design for systems with time-varying parameter uncertainties. The notion of a strongly robust % performance criterion is introduced, and its applications in robust performance analysis and synthesis for nominally linear systems...... with time-varying uncertainties are discussed and compared with the constant scaled small gain criterion. It is shown that most robust performance analysis and synthesis problems under this strongly robust % performance criterion can be transformed into linear matrix inequality problems, and can be solved...

  10. Multidisciplinary Design Optimization for High Reliability and Robustness

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Grandhi, Ramana

    2005-01-01

    .... Over the last 3 years Wright State University has been applying analysis tools to predict the behavior of critical disciplines to produce highly robust torpedo designs using robust multi-disciplinary...

  11. What is it to be sturdy (robust)?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Niss Skov; Zwisler, Lars Pagter; Bojsen, Ann Kristina Mikkelsen

    Purpose: This paper intends to give a first insight into the concept of being "sturdy/robust"; To develop and test a Danish model of how to measure sturdi-ness/robustness; To test the scale's ability to identify people in emergency situa-tions who have high risk of developing psychological illness....

  12. Mechanisms and coherences of robust design methodology: a robust design process proposal

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Göhler, Simon Moritz; Christensen, Martin Ebro; Howard, Thomas J.

    2016-01-01

    Although robust design (RD) methods are recognised as a way of developing mechanical products with consistent and predictable performance and quality, they do not experience widespread success in industry. One reason being the lack of a coherent RD process (RDP). In this contribution we analyse...

  13. Identification and robust control of an experimental servo motor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adam, E J; Guestrin, E D

    2002-04-01

    In this work, the design of a robust controller for an experimental laboratory-scale position control system based on a dc motor drive as well as the corresponding identification and robust stability analysis are presented. In order to carry out the robust design procedure, first, a classic closed-loop identification technique is applied and then, the parametrization by internal model control is used. The model uncertainty is evaluated under both parametric and global representation. For the latter case, an interesting discussion about the conservativeness of this description is presented by means of a comparison between the uncertainty disk and the critical perturbation radius approaches. Finally, conclusions about the performance of the experimental system with the robust controller are discussed using comparative graphics of the controlled variable and the Nyquist stability margin as a robustness measurement.

  14. Robust Identification of Developmentally Active Endothelial Enhancers in Zebrafish Using FANS-Assisted ATAC-Seq.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quillien, Aurelie; Abdalla, Mary; Yu, Jun; Ou, Jianhong; Zhu, Lihua Julie; Lawson, Nathan D

    2017-07-18

    Identification of tissue-specific and developmentally active enhancers provides insights into mechanisms that control gene expression during embryogenesis. However, robust detection of these regulatory elements remains challenging, especially in vertebrate genomes. Here, we apply fluorescent-activated nuclei sorting (FANS) followed by Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin with high-throughput sequencing (ATAC-seq) to identify developmentally active endothelial enhancers in the zebrafish genome. ATAC-seq of nuclei from Tg(fli1a:egfp) y1 transgenic embryos revealed expected patterns of nucleosomal positioning at transcriptional start sites throughout the genome and association with active histone modifications. Comparison of ATAC-seq from GFP-positive and -negative nuclei identified more than 5,000 open elements specific to endothelial cells. These elements flanked genes functionally important for vascular development and that displayed endothelial-specific gene expression. Importantly, a majority of tested elements drove endothelial gene expression in zebrafish embryos. Thus, FANS-assisted ATAC-seq using transgenic zebrafish embryos provides a robust approach for genome-wide identification of active tissue-specific enhancer elements. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. A influência da terapia de libertação posicional sobre a tensão miofascial do músculo trapézio

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francisco José Saavedra

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1980-0037.2014v16n2p191   O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar a influência da Terapia de Libertação Posi-cional (TLP sobre a tensão miofascial do músculo trapézio superior, com presença de ponto gatilho (PG miofascial ativo. Foram estudados 30 indivíduos (18 homens e 12 mulheres, idade média 34,5 +9,4 anos, com presença de PG ativo, no músculo trapézio superior, de um dos lados. Os PG foram avaliados em ambos os lados e foram considerados ativos quando era evocada uma dor local, disseminada e persistente, por palpação manual. Os indivíduos foram avaliados em três condições: (a repouso basal, (b contração concêntrica e (c contração isométrica, antes e após da aplicação da TLP, nos seguintes parâmetros: (i intensidade da dor durante a palpação (escala visual analógica de dore (ii sinais eletromiográficos (EMG do músculo trapézio superior. Houve uma redução significativa do sintoma doloroso 5,3 ± 1,9 para 2,8 ± 1,8 (p < 0,001. Quanto à atividade electromiográfica, em repouso basal e na contração concêntrica, não se observaram diferenças significativas nos sinais EMGs, após a utilização da TLP. Os resultados sugerem que a TLP diminui o sintoma doloroso e reduz os sinais da electromiografia, em repouso basal, do músculo trapézio superior com PG. Isto sugere que a técnica de TLP pode ser utilizada como uma alternativa ou em concomitância com outras terapias. A eficácia desta forma de tratamento deve ser confirmada por outros estudos clínicos.

  16. Global robust stability for shunting inhibitory CNNs with delays.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Lingna; Lin, Yiping

    2004-08-01

    In this paper, the problem of global robust stability for shunting inhibitory cellular neural networks (SICNNs) is studied. A sufficient condition guaranteeing the network's global robust stability is established. The result can easily be used to verify globally robust stable networks. An example is given to illustrate that the conditions of our results are feasible.

  17. Confidence assessment. Site-descriptive modelling SDM-Site Laxemar

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2009-06-01

    The objective of this report is to assess the confidence that can be placed in the Laxemar site descriptive model, based on the information available at the conclusion of the surface-based investigations (SDM-Site Laxemar). In this exploration, an overriding question is whether remaining uncertainties are significant for repository engineering design or long-term safety assessment and could successfully be further reduced by more surface-based investigations or more usefully by explorations underground made during construction of the repository. Procedures for this assessment have been progressively refined during the course of the site descriptive modelling, and applied to all previous versions of the Forsmark and Laxemar site descriptive models. They include assessment of whether all relevant data have been considered and understood, identification of the main uncertainties and their causes, possible alternative models and their handling, and consistency between disciplines. The assessment then forms the basis for an overall confidence statement. The confidence in the Laxemar site descriptive model, based on the data available at the conclusion of the surface based site investigations, has been assessed by exploring: - Confidence in the site characterization data base, - remaining issues and their handling, - handling of alternatives, - consistency between disciplines and - main reasons for confidence and lack of confidence in the model. Generally, the site investigation database is of high quality, as assured by the quality procedures applied. It is judged that the Laxemar site descriptive model has an overall high level of confidence. Because of the relatively robust geological model that describes the site, the overall confidence in the Laxemar Site Descriptive model is judged to be high, even though details of the spatial variability remain unknown. The overall reason for this confidence is the wide spatial distribution of the data and the consistency between

  18. Confidence assessment. Site-descriptive modelling SDM-Site Laxemar

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    2008-12-15

    The objective of this report is to assess the confidence that can be placed in the Laxemar site descriptive model, based on the information available at the conclusion of the surface-based investigations (SDM-Site Laxemar). In this exploration, an overriding question is whether remaining uncertainties are significant for repository engineering design or long-term safety assessment and could successfully be further reduced by more surface-based investigations or more usefully by explorations underground made during construction of the repository. Procedures for this assessment have been progressively refined during the course of the site descriptive modelling, and applied to all previous versions of the Forsmark and Laxemar site descriptive models. They include assessment of whether all relevant data have been considered and understood, identification of the main uncertainties and their causes, possible alternative models and their handling, and consistency between disciplines. The assessment then forms the basis for an overall confidence statement. The confidence in the Laxemar site descriptive model, based on the data available at the conclusion of the surface based site investigations, has been assessed by exploring: - Confidence in the site characterization data base, - remaining issues and their handling, - handling of alternatives, - consistency between disciplines and - main reasons for confidence and lack of confidence in the model. Generally, the site investigation database is of high quality, as assured by the quality procedures applied. It is judged that the Laxemar site descriptive model has an overall high level of confidence. Because of the relatively robust geological model that describes the site, the overall confidence in the Laxemar Site Descriptive model is judged to be high, even though details of the spatial variability remain unknown. The overall reason for this confidence is the wide spatial distribution of the data and the consistency between

  19. Robustness Analysis of a Timber Structure with Ductile Behaviour in Compression

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Čizmar, Dean; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard; Kirkegaard, Poul Henning

    2011-01-01

    This paper presents a probabilistic approach for structural robustness assessment for a timber structure built a few years ago. The robustness analysis is based on a structural reliability based framework for robustness assessment. The complex timber structure with a large number of failure modes...... material ductility of timber is taken into account. The robustness is expressed and evaluated by a robustness index....

  20. SICOM: On-site inspection systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Serna, J.J.; Quecedo, M.; Fernandez, J.R.

    2002-01-01

    As the irradiation conditions become more demanding for the fuel than in the past, there is a need for surveillance programs to gather in-reactor operating experience. The data obtained in these programs can be used to assess the performance of current fuel designs and the improvements incorporated to the fuel assembly design, the performance of the advanced cladding alloys, etc. In these regards, valuable data is obtained from on-site fuel inspections. These on-site data comprise fuel assembly dimensional data such as length and distortion (tilt, twist and bow) and fuel rod data such as length and oxide thickness. These data have to be reliable and accurate to be useful thus, demanding a high precision inspection equipment. However, the inspection equipment has to be also robust and flexible enough to operate in the plant spent fuel pool and, sometimes, without interfering in the works carried out during a plant outage. To meet these requirements, during the past years ENUSA and TECNATOM have developed two on-site inspection systems. While the first system can perform most of the typical measurements in a stand-alone manner thus, without interfering with the critical path of the reload, the second one reduces the inspection time but requires using the plant capabilities. The paper describes both equipment for fuel on-site inspection, their characteristics and main features. (author)

  1. A scoring mechanism for the rank aggregation of network robustness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yazdani, Alireza; Dueñas-Osorio, Leonardo; Li, Qilin

    2013-10-01

    To date, a number of metrics have been proposed to quantify inherent robustness of network topology against failures. However, each single metric usually only offers a limited view of network vulnerability to different types of random failures and targeted attacks. When applied to certain network configurations, different metrics rank network topology robustness in different orders which is rather inconsistent, and no single metric fully characterizes network robustness against different modes of failure. To overcome such inconsistency, this work proposes a multi-metric approach as the basis of evaluating aggregate ranking of network topology robustness. This is based on simultaneous utilization of a minimal set of distinct robustness metrics that are standardized so to give way to a direct comparison of vulnerability across networks with different sizes and configurations, hence leading to an initial scoring of inherent topology robustness. Subsequently, based on the inputs of initial scoring a rank aggregation method is employed to allocate an overall ranking of robustness to each network topology. A discussion is presented in support of the presented multi-metric approach and its applications to more realistically assess and rank network topology robustness.

  2. Robust Inference with Multi-way Clustering

    OpenAIRE

    A. Colin Cameron; Jonah B. Gelbach; Douglas L. Miller; Doug Miller

    2009-01-01

    In this paper we propose a variance estimator for the OLS estimator as well as for nonlinear estimators such as logit, probit and GMM. This variance estimator enables cluster-robust inference when there is two-way or multi-way clustering that is non-nested. The variance estimator extends the standard cluster-robust variance estimator or sandwich estimator for one-way clustering (e.g. Liang and Zeger (1986), Arellano (1987)) and relies on similar relatively weak distributional assumptions. Our...

  3. Coping with gravity: the foliar water relations of giant sequoia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Cameron B; Reese Næsborg, Rikke; Dawson, Todd E

    2017-10-01

    In tall trees, the mechanisms by which foliage maintains sufficient turgor pressure and water content against height-related constraints remain poorly understood. Pressure-volume curves generated from leafy shoots collected crown-wide from 12 large Sequoiadendron giganteum (Lindley) J. Buchholz (giant sequoia) trees provided mechanistic insights into how the components of water potential vary with height in tree and over time. The turgor loss point (TLP) decreased with height at a rate indistinguishable from the gravitational potential gradient and was controlled by changes in tissue osmotica. For all measured shoots, total relative water content at the TLP remained above 75%. This high value has been suggested to help leaves avoid precipitous declines in leaf-level physiological function, and in giant sequoia was controlled by both tissue elasticity and the balance of water between apoplasm and symplasm. Hydraulic capacitance decreased only slightly with height, but importantly this parameter was nearly double in value to that reported for other tree species. Total water storage capacity also decreased with height, but this trend essentially disappeared when considering only water available within the typical range of water potentials experienced by giant sequoia. From summer to fall measurement periods we did not observe osmotic adjustment that would depress the TLP. Instead we observed a proportional shift of water into less mobile apoplastic compartments leading to a reduction in hydraulic capacitance. This collection of foliar traits allows giant sequoia to routinely, but safely, operate close to its TLP, and suggests that gravity plays a major role in the water relations of Earth's largest tree species. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  4. Application of the robust design concept for fuel loading pattern

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Endo, Tomohiro; Ohori, Kazuma; Yamamoto, Akio

    2011-01-01

    Application of the robust design concept for fuel loading pattern design is proposed as a new approach to improve the prediction accuracy of core characteristics. The robust design is a design concept that establishes a resistant (robust) system for perturbations or noises, by properly setting design variables. In order to apply the concept of robust design to fuel loading pattern design, we focus on a theoretical approach based on the higher order perturbation method. This approach indicates that the eigenvalue separation is one of the effective indices to measure the robustness of a designed fuel loading pattern. In order to verify the effectiveness of the eigenvalue separation as an index of robustness, numerical analysis is carried out for typical 3-loop PWR cores, and we evaluated the correlation between the eigenvalue separation and the variation of relative assembly power due to the perturbation of the cross section. The numerical results show that the variation of relative power decreases as the eigenvalue separation increases; thus, it is confirmed that the eigenvalue separation is an effective index of robustness. Based on the eigenvalue separation of a fuel loading pattern, we discuss design guidelines of a fuel loading pattern to improve the robustness. For example, if each fuel assembly has independent uncertainty on its cross section, the robustness of the core can be enhanced by increasing the relative power at the center of the core. The proposed guidelines will be useful to design a loading pattern that has robustness for uncertainties due to cross section, calculation method, and so on. (author)

  5. Recognition of functional sites in protein structures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shulman-Peleg, Alexandra; Nussinov, Ruth; Wolfson, Haim J

    2004-06-04

    Recognition of regions on the surface of one protein, that are similar to a binding site of another is crucial for the prediction of molecular interactions and for functional classifications. We first describe a novel method, SiteEngine, that assumes no sequence or fold similarities and is able to recognize proteins that have similar binding sites and may perform similar functions. We achieve high efficiency and speed by introducing a low-resolution surface representation via chemically important surface points, by hashing triangles of physico-chemical properties and by application of hierarchical scoring schemes for a thorough exploration of global and local similarities. We proceed to rigorously apply this method to functional site recognition in three possible ways: first, we search a given functional site on a large set of complete protein structures. Second, a potential functional site on a protein of interest is compared with known binding sites, to recognize similar features. Third, a complete protein structure is searched for the presence of an a priori unknown functional site, similar to known sites. Our method is robust and efficient enough to allow computationally demanding applications such as the first and the third. From the biological standpoint, the first application may identify secondary binding sites of drugs that may lead to side-effects. The third application finds new potential sites on the protein that may provide targets for drug design. Each of the three applications may aid in assigning a function and in classification of binding patterns. We highlight the advantages and disadvantages of each type of search, provide examples of large-scale searches of the entire Protein Data Base and make functional predictions.

  6. Two-level Robust Measurement Fusion Kalman Filter for Clustering Sensor Networks

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    ZHANG Peng; QI Wen-Juan; DENG Zi-Li

    2014-01-01

    This paper investigates the distributed fusion Kalman filtering over clustering sensor networks. The sensor network is partitioned as clusters by the nearest neighbor rule and each cluster consists of sensing nodes and cluster-head. Using the minimax robust estimation principle, based on the worst-case conservative system with the conservative upper bounds of noise variances, two-level robust measurement fusion Kalman filter is presented for the clustering sensor network systems with uncertain noise variances. It can significantly reduce the communication load and save energy when the number of sensors is very large. A Lyapunov equation approach for the robustness analysis is presented, by which the robustness of the local and fused Kalman filters is proved. The concept of the robust accuracy is presented, and the robust accuracy relations among the local and fused robust Kalman filters are proved. It is proved that the robust accuracy of the two-level weighted measurement fuser is equal to that of the global centralized robust fuser and is higher than those of each local robust filter and each local weighted measurement fuser. A simulation example shows the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed results.

  7. Robust keyword retrieval method for OCRed text

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fujii, Yusaku; Takebe, Hiroaki; Tanaka, Hiroshi; Hotta, Yoshinobu

    2011-01-01

    Document management systems have become important because of the growing popularity of electronic filing of documents and scanning of books, magazines, manuals, etc., through a scanner or a digital camera, for storage or reading on a PC or an electronic book. Text information acquired by optical character recognition (OCR) is usually added to the electronic documents for document retrieval. Since texts generated by OCR generally include character recognition errors, robust retrieval methods have been introduced to overcome this problem. In this paper, we propose a retrieval method that is robust against both character segmentation and recognition errors. In the proposed method, the insertion of noise characters and dropping of characters in the keyword retrieval enables robustness against character segmentation errors, and character substitution in the keyword of the recognition candidate for each character in OCR or any other character enables robustness against character recognition errors. The recall rate of the proposed method was 15% higher than that of the conventional method. However, the precision rate was 64% lower.

  8. Robust ray-tracing algorithms for interactive dose rate evaluation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Perrotte, L.

    2011-01-01

    More than ever, it is essential today to develop simulation tools to rapidly evaluate the dose rate received by operators working on nuclear sites. In order to easily study numerous different scenarios of intervention, computation times of available softwares have to be all lowered. This mainly implies to accelerate the geometrical computations needed for the dose rate evaluation. These computations consist in finding and sorting the whole list of intersections between a big 3D scene and multiple groups of 'radiative' rays meeting at the point where the dose has to be measured. In order to perform all these computations in less than a second, we first propose a GPU algorithm that enables the efficient management of one big group of coherent rays. Then we present a modification of this algorithm that guarantees the robustness of the ray-triangle intersection tests through the elimination of the precision issues due to floating-point arithmetic. This modification does not require the definition of scene-dependent coefficients ('epsilon' style) and only implies a small loss of performance (less than 10%). Finally we propose an efficient strategy to handle multiple ray groups (corresponding to multiple radiative objects) which use the previous results.Thanks to these improvements, we are able to perform an interactive and robust dose rate evaluation on big 3D scenes: all of the intersections (more than 13 million) between 700 000 triangles and 12 groups of 100 000 rays each are found, sorted along each ray and transferred to the CPU in 470 milliseconds. (author) [fr

  9. Combining metal oxide affinity chromatography (MOAC and selective mass spectrometry for robust identification of in vivo protein phosphorylation sites

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Weckwerth Wolfram

    2005-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Protein phosphorylation is accepted as a major regulatory pathway in plants. More than 1000 protein kinases are predicted in the Arabidopsis proteome, however, only a few studies look systematically for in vivo protein phosphorylation sites. Owing to the low stoichiometry and low abundance of phosphorylated proteins, phosphorylation site identification using mass spectrometry imposes difficulties. Moreover, the often observed poor quality of mass spectra derived from phosphopeptides results frequently in uncertain database hits. Thus, several lines of evidence have to be combined for a precise phosphorylation site identification strategy. Results Here, a strategy is presented that combines enrichment of phosphoproteins using a technique termed metaloxide affinity chromatography (MOAC and selective ion trap mass spectrometry. The complete approach involves (i enrichment of proteins with low phosphorylation stoichiometry out of complex mixtures using MOAC, (ii gel separation and detection of phosphorylation using specific fluorescence staining (confirmation of enrichment, (iii identification of phosphoprotein candidates out of the SDS-PAGE using liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry, and (iv identification of phosphorylation sites of these enriched proteins using automatic detection of H3PO4 neutral loss peaks and data-dependent MS3-fragmentation of the corresponding MS2-fragment. The utility of this approach is demonstrated by the identification of phosphorylation sites in Arabidopsis thaliana seed proteins. Regulatory importance of the identified sites is indicated by conservation of the detected sites in gene families such as ribosomal proteins and sterol dehydrogenases. To demonstrate further the wide applicability of MOAC, phosphoproteins were enriched from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cell cultures. Conclusion A novel phosphoprotein enrichment procedure MOAC was applied to seed proteins of A. thaliana and to

  10. Implicitly Weighted Methods in Robust Image Analysis

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Kalina, Jan

    2012-01-01

    Roč. 44, č. 3 (2012), s. 449-462 ISSN 0924-9907 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) 1M06014 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10300504 Keywords : robustness * high breakdown point * outlier detection * robust correlation analysis * template matching * face recognition Subject RIV: BB - Applied Statistics, Operational Research Impact factor: 1.767, year: 2012

  11. Effect of robust torus on the dynamical transport

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martins, C G L; Carvalho, R Egydio de; Caldas, I L; Roberto, M

    2010-01-01

    In the present work, we quantify the fraction of trajectories that reach a specific region of the phase space when we vary a control parameter using two symplectic maps: one non-twist and another one twist. The two maps were studied with and without a robust torus. We compare the obtained patterns and we identify the effect of the robust torus on the dynamical transport. We show that the effect of meandering-like barriers loses importance in blocking the radial transport when the robust torus is present.

  12. Robustness Issues for Design of Innovative Timber Structures

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hald, Frederik; Kirkegaard, Poul Henning; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2013-01-01

    Robustness of structural systems has obtained a renewed interest due to a much more frequent use of advanced types of structures with limited redundancy and serious conse-quences in case of failure. The present paper summaries issues with respect to robustness of timber structures. Two different...... large span timber structures are analyzed and based on these analyses the paper presents guidelines for the future development of innovative timber struc-tures which are robust with respect to design and execution errors, unforeseen degradation and other potential hazards....

  13. Robust Performance of Systems with Structured Uncertainties in State Space

    OpenAIRE

    Zhou, K.; Khargonekar, P.P.; Stoustrup, Jakob; Niemann, H.H.

    1995-01-01

    This paper considers robust performance analysis and state feedback design for systems with time-varying parameter uncertainties. The notion of a strongly robust % performance criterion is introduced, and its applications in robust performance analysis and synthesis for nominally linear systems with time-varying uncertainties are discussed and compared with the constant scaled small gain criterion. It is shown that most robust performance analysis and synthesisproblems under this strongly rob...

  14. Degeneracy: a link between evolvability, robustness and complexity in biological systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Whitacre James M

    2010-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract A full accounting of biological robustness remains elusive; both in terms of the mechanisms by which robustness is achieved and the forces that have caused robustness to grow over evolutionary time. Although its importance to topics such as ecosystem services and resilience is well recognized, the broader relationship between robustness and evolution is only starting to be fully appreciated. A renewed interest in this relationship has been prompted by evidence that mutational robustness can play a positive role in the discovery of adaptive innovations (evolvability and evidence of an intimate relationship between robustness and complexity in biology. This paper offers a new perspective on the mechanics of evolution and the origins of complexity, robustness, and evolvability. Here we explore the hypothesis that degeneracy, a partial overlap in the functioning of multi-functional components, plays a central role in the evolution and robustness of complex forms. In support of this hypothesis, we present evidence that degeneracy is a fundamental source of robustness, it is intimately tied to multi-scaled complexity, and it establishes conditions that are necessary for system evolvability.

  15. Transportation Infrastructure Robustness : Joint Engineering and Economic Analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-11-01

    The objectives of this study are to develop a methodology for assessing the robustness of transportation infrastructure facilities and assess the effect of damage to such facilities on travel demand and the facilities users welfare. The robustness...

  16. Robustness of public choice models of voting behavior

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mihai UNGUREANU

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available Modern economics modeling practice involves highly unrealistic assumptions. Since testing such models is not always an easy enterprise, researchers face the problem of determining whether a result is dependent (or not on the unrealistic details of the model. A solution for this problem is conducting robustness analysis. In its classical form, robustness analysis is a non-empirical method of confirmation – it raises our trust in a given result by implying it with from several different models. In this paper I argue that robustness analysis could be thought as a method of post-empirical failure. This form of robustness analysis involves assigning guilt for the empirical failure to a certain part of the model. Starting from this notion of robustness, I analyze a case of empirical failure from public choice theory or the economic approach of politics. Using the fundamental methodological principles of neoclassical economics, the first model of voting behavior implied that almost no one would vote. This was clearly an empirical failure. Public choice scholars faced the problem of either restraining the domain of their discipline or giving up to some of their neoclassical methodological features. The second solution was chosen and several different models of voting behavior were built. I will treat these models as a case for performing robustness analysis and I will determine which assumption from the original model is guilty for the empirical failure.

  17. Effect of smoothing on robust chaos.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deshpande, Amogh; Chen, Qingfei; Wang, Yan; Lai, Ying-Cheng; Do, Younghae

    2010-08-01

    In piecewise-smooth dynamical systems, situations can arise where the asymptotic attractors of the system in an open parameter interval are all chaotic (e.g., no periodic windows). This is the phenomenon of robust chaos. Previous works have established that robust chaos can occur through the mechanism of border-collision bifurcation, where border is the phase-space region where discontinuities in the derivatives of the dynamical equations occur. We investigate the effect of smoothing on robust chaos and find that periodic windows can arise when a small amount of smoothness is present. We introduce a parameter of smoothing and find that the measure of the periodic windows in the parameter space scales linearly with the parameter, regardless of the details of the smoothing function. Numerical support and a heuristic theory are provided to establish the scaling relation. Experimental evidence of periodic windows in a supposedly piecewise linear dynamical system, which has been implemented as an electronic circuit, is also provided.

  18. Reinforcing the North Atlantic backbone: revision and extension of the composite splice at ODP Site 982

    OpenAIRE

    Drury, Anna Joy; Westerhold, Thomas; Hodell, David; Röhl, Ursula

    2018-01-01

    Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 982 represents a key location for understanding the evolution of climate in the North Atlantic over the past 12 Ma. However, concerns exist about the validity and robustness of the underlying stratigraphy and astrochronology, which currently limits the adequacy of this site for high-resolution climate studies. To resolve this uncertainty, we verify and extend the early Pliocene to late Miocene shipboard composite splice at Site 982 using hig...

  19. Robust bladder image registration by redefining data-term in total variational approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ali, Sharib; Daul, Christian; Galbrun, Ernest; Amouroux, Marine; Guillemin, François; Blondel, Walter

    2015-03-01

    Cystoscopy is the standard procedure for clinical diagnosis of bladder cancer diagnosis. Bladder carcinoma in situ are often multifocal and spread over large areas. In vivo, localization and follow-up of these tumors and their nearby sites is necessary. But, due to the small field of view (FOV) of the cystoscopic video images, urologists cannot easily interpret the scene. Bladder mosaicing using image registration facilitates this interpretation through the visualization of entire lesions with respect to anatomical landmarks. The reference white light (WL) modality is affected by a strong variability in terms of texture, illumination conditions and motion blur. Moreover, in the complementary fluorescence light (FL) modality, the texture is visually different from that of the WL. Existing algorithms were developed for a particular modality and scene conditions. This paper proposes a more general on fly image registration approach for dealing with these variability issues in cystoscopy. To do so, we present a novel, robust and accurate image registration scheme by redefining the data-term of the classical total variational (TV) approach. Quantitative results on realistic bladder phantom images are used for verifying accuracy and robustness of the proposed model. This method is also qualitatively assessed with patient data mosaicing for both WL and FL modalities.

  20. LDRD final report : robust analysis of large-scale combinatorial applications.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Carr, Robert D.; Morrison, Todd (University of Colorado, Denver, CO); Hart, William Eugene; Benavides, Nicolas L. (Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA); Greenberg, Harvey J. (University of Colorado, Denver, CO); Watson, Jean-Paul; Phillips, Cynthia Ann

    2007-09-01

    Discrete models of large, complex systems like national infrastructures and complex logistics frameworks naturally incorporate many modeling uncertainties. Consequently, there is a clear need for optimization techniques that can robustly account for risks associated with modeling uncertainties. This report summarizes the progress of the Late-Start LDRD 'Robust Analysis of Largescale Combinatorial Applications'. This project developed new heuristics for solving robust optimization models, and developed new robust optimization models for describing uncertainty scenarios.

  1. Robust filtering for uncertain systems a parameter-dependent approach

    CERN Document Server

    Gao, Huijun

    2014-01-01

    This monograph provides the reader with a systematic treatment of robust filter design, a key issue in systems, control and signal processing, because of the fact that the inevitable presence of uncertainty in system and signal models often degrades the filtering performance and may even cause instability. The methods described are therefore not subject to the rigorous assumptions of traditional Kalman filtering. The monograph is concerned with robust filtering for various dynamical systems with parametric uncertainties, and focuses on parameter-dependent approaches to filter design. Classical filtering schemes, like H2 filtering and H¥ filtering, are addressed, and emerging issues such as robust filtering with constraints on communication channels and signal frequency characteristics are discussed. The text features: ·        design approaches to robust filters arranged according to varying complexity level, and emphasizing robust filtering in the parameter-dependent framework for the first time; ·...

  2. Synthesis of fixed-architecture, robust H2 and H∞ controllers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emmanuel G. Collins

    2000-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper discusses and compares the synthesis of fixed-architecture controllers that guarantee either robust H2 or H∞ performance. The synthesis is accomplished by solving a Riccati equation feasibility problem resulting from mixed structured singular value theory with Popov multipliers. Whereas the algorithm for robust H2 performance had been previously implemented, a major contribution described in this paper is the implementation of the much more complex algorithm for robust H∞ performance. Both robust H2 and H∞, controllers are designed for a benchmark problem and a comparison is made between the resulting controllers and control algorithms. It is found that the numerical algorithm for robust H∞ performance is much more computationally intensive than that for robust H2 performance. Both controllers are found to have smaller bandwidth, lower control authority and to be less conservative than controllers obtained using complex structured singular value synthesis.

  3. Neuromorphic Configurable Architecture for Robust Motion Estimation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guillermo Botella

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available The robustness of the human visual system recovering motion estimation in almost any visual situation is enviable, performing enormous calculation tasks continuously, robustly, efficiently, and effortlessly. There is obviously a great deal we can learn from our own visual system. Currently, there are several optical flow algorithms, although none of them deals efficiently with noise, illumination changes, second-order motion, occlusions, and so on. The main contribution of this work is the efficient implementation of a biologically inspired motion algorithm that borrows nature templates as inspiration in the design of architectures and makes use of a specific model of human visual motion perception: Multichannel Gradient Model (McGM. This novel customizable architecture of a neuromorphic robust optical flow can be constructed with FPGA or ASIC device using properties of the cortical motion pathway, constituting a useful framework for building future complex bioinspired systems running in real time with high computational complexity. This work includes the resource usage and performance data, and the comparison with actual systems. This hardware has many application fields like object recognition, navigation, or tracking in difficult environments due to its bioinspired and robustness properties.

  4. Robust estimation for ordinary differential equation models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cao, J; Wang, L; Xu, J

    2011-12-01

    Applied scientists often like to use ordinary differential equations (ODEs) to model complex dynamic processes that arise in biology, engineering, medicine, and many other areas. It is interesting but challenging to estimate ODE parameters from noisy data, especially when the data have some outliers. We propose a robust method to address this problem. The dynamic process is represented with a nonparametric function, which is a linear combination of basis functions. The nonparametric function is estimated by a robust penalized smoothing method. The penalty term is defined with the parametric ODE model, which controls the roughness of the nonparametric function and maintains the fidelity of the nonparametric function to the ODE model. The basis coefficients and ODE parameters are estimated in two nested levels of optimization. The coefficient estimates are treated as an implicit function of ODE parameters, which enables one to derive the analytic gradients for optimization using the implicit function theorem. Simulation studies show that the robust method gives satisfactory estimates for the ODE parameters from noisy data with outliers. The robust method is demonstrated by estimating a predator-prey ODE model from real ecological data. © 2011, The International Biometric Society.

  5. Comparison of robustness to outliers between robust poisson models and log-binomial models when estimating relative risks for common binary outcomes: a simulation study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Wansu; Shi, Jiaxiao; Qian, Lei; Azen, Stanley P

    2014-06-26

    To estimate relative risks or risk ratios for common binary outcomes, the most popular model-based methods are the robust (also known as modified) Poisson and the log-binomial regression. Of the two methods, it is believed that the log-binomial regression yields more efficient estimators because it is maximum likelihood based, while the robust Poisson model may be less affected by outliers. Evidence to support the robustness of robust Poisson models in comparison with log-binomial models is very limited. In this study a simulation was conducted to evaluate the performance of the two methods in several scenarios where outliers existed. The findings indicate that for data coming from a population where the relationship between the outcome and the covariate was in a simple form (e.g. log-linear), the two models yielded comparable biases and mean square errors. However, if the true relationship contained a higher order term, the robust Poisson models consistently outperformed the log-binomial models even when the level of contamination is low. The robust Poisson models are more robust (or less sensitive) to outliers compared to the log-binomial models when estimating relative risks or risk ratios for common binary outcomes. Users should be aware of the limitations when choosing appropriate models to estimate relative risks or risk ratios.

  6. A robust anti-windup design procedure for SISO systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kerr, Murray; Turner, Matthew C.; Villota, Elizabeth; Jayasuriya, Suhada; Postlethwaite, Ian

    2011-02-01

    A model-based anti-windup (AW) controller design approach for constrained uncertain linear single-input-single-output (SISO) systems is proposed based on quantitative feedback theory (QFT) loopshaping. The design approach explicitly incorporates uncertainty, is suitable for the solution of both the magnitude and rate saturation problems, and provides for the design of low-order AW controllers satisfying robust stability and robust performance objectives. Robust stability is enforced using absolute stability theory and generic multipliers (i.e. circle, Popov, Zames-Falb), and robust performance is enforced using linear lower-bounds on the input-output maps capturing the effects of saturation as a metric. Two detailed design examples are presented. These show that even for simple systems, certain popular AW techniques lead to compensators that may fail to ensure robust stability and performance when saturation is encountered, but that the proposed QFT design approach is able to handle both saturation and uncertainty effectively.

  7. Distributionally Robust Joint Chance Constrained Problem under Moment Uncertainty

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ke-wei Ding

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available We discuss and develop the convex approximation for robust joint chance constraints under uncertainty of first- and second-order moments. Robust chance constraints are approximated by Worst-Case CVaR constraints which can be reformulated by a semidefinite programming. Then the chance constrained problem can be presented as semidefinite programming. We also find that the approximation for robust joint chance constraints has an equivalent individual quadratic approximation form.

  8. Revisiting Robustness and Evolvability: Evolution in Weighted Genotype Spaces

    Science.gov (United States)

    Partha, Raghavendran; Raman, Karthik

    2014-01-01

    Robustness and evolvability are highly intertwined properties of biological systems. The relationship between these properties determines how biological systems are able to withstand mutations and show variation in response to them. Computational studies have explored the relationship between these two properties using neutral networks of RNA sequences (genotype) and their secondary structures (phenotype) as a model system. However, these studies have assumed every mutation to a sequence to be equally likely; the differences in the likelihood of the occurrence of various mutations, and the consequence of probabilistic nature of the mutations in such a system have previously been ignored. Associating probabilities to mutations essentially results in the weighting of genotype space. We here perform a comparative analysis of weighted and unweighted neutral networks of RNA sequences, and subsequently explore the relationship between robustness and evolvability. We show that assuming an equal likelihood for all mutations (as in an unweighted network), underestimates robustness and overestimates evolvability of a system. In spite of discarding this assumption, we observe that a negative correlation between sequence (genotype) robustness and sequence evolvability persists, and also that structure (phenotype) robustness promotes structure evolvability, as observed in earlier studies using unweighted networks. We also study the effects of base composition bias on robustness and evolvability. Particularly, we explore the association between robustness and evolvability in a sequence space that is AU-rich – sequences with an AU content of 80% or higher, compared to a normal (unbiased) sequence space. We find that evolvability of both sequences and structures in an AU-rich space is lesser compared to the normal space, and robustness higher. We also observe that AU-rich populations evolving on neutral networks of phenotypes, can access less phenotypic variation compared to

  9. Robustness Analysis of Visual Question Answering Models by Basic Questions

    KAUST Repository

    Huang, Jia-Hong

    2017-11-01

    Visual Question Answering (VQA) models should have both high robustness and accuracy. Unfortunately, most of the current VQA research only focuses on accuracy because there is a lack of proper methods to measure the robustness of VQA models. There are two main modules in our algorithm. Given a natural language question about an image, the first module takes the question as input and then outputs the ranked basic questions, with similarity scores, of the main given question. The second module takes the main question, image and these basic questions as input and then outputs the text-based answer of the main question about the given image. We claim that a robust VQA model is one, whose performance is not changed much when related basic questions as also made available to it as input. We formulate the basic questions generation problem as a LASSO optimization, and also propose a large scale Basic Question Dataset (BQD) and Rscore (novel robustness measure), for analyzing the robustness of VQA models. We hope our BQD will be used as a benchmark for to evaluate the robustness of VQA models, so as to help the community build more robust and accurate VQA models.

  10. Robustness Analysis of Visual Question Answering Models by Basic Questions

    KAUST Repository

    Huang, Jia-Hong

    2017-01-01

    Visual Question Answering (VQA) models should have both high robustness and accuracy. Unfortunately, most of the current VQA research only focuses on accuracy because there is a lack of proper methods to measure the robustness of VQA models. There are two main modules in our algorithm. Given a natural language question about an image, the first module takes the question as input and then outputs the ranked basic questions, with similarity scores, of the main given question. The second module takes the main question, image and these basic questions as input and then outputs the text-based answer of the main question about the given image. We claim that a robust VQA model is one, whose performance is not changed much when related basic questions as also made available to it as input. We formulate the basic questions generation problem as a LASSO optimization, and also propose a large scale Basic Question Dataset (BQD) and Rscore (novel robustness measure), for analyzing the robustness of VQA models. We hope our BQD will be used as a benchmark for to evaluate the robustness of VQA models, so as to help the community build more robust and accurate VQA models.

  11. Robust cluster analysis and variable selection

    CERN Document Server

    Ritter, Gunter

    2014-01-01

    Clustering remains a vibrant area of research in statistics. Although there are many books on this topic, there are relatively few that are well founded in the theoretical aspects. In Robust Cluster Analysis and Variable Selection, Gunter Ritter presents an overview of the theory and applications of probabilistic clustering and variable selection, synthesizing the key research results of the last 50 years. The author focuses on the robust clustering methods he found to be the most useful on simulated data and real-time applications. The book provides clear guidance for the varying needs of bot

  12. Robust Parametric Control of Spacecraft Rendezvous

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dake Gu

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes a method to design the robust parametric control for autonomous rendezvous of spacecrafts with the inertial information with uncertainty. We consider model uncertainty of traditional C-W equation to formulate the dynamic model of the relative motion. Based on eigenstructure assignment and model reference theory, a concise control law for spacecraft rendezvous is proposed which could be fixed through solving an optimization problem. The cost function considers the stabilization of the system and other performances. Simulation results illustrate the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed control.

  13. Robustness Envelopes of Networks

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Trajanovski, S.; Martín-Hernández, J.; Winterbach, W.; Van Mieghem, P.

    2013-01-01

    We study the robustness of networks under node removal, considering random node failure, as well as targeted node attacks based on network centrality measures. Whilst both of these have been studied in the literature, existing approaches tend to study random failure in terms of average-case

  14. Robust bayesian analysis of an autoregressive model with ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    In this work, robust Bayesian analysis of the Bayesian estimation of an autoregressive model with exponential innovations is performed. Using a Bayesian robustness methodology, we show that, using a suitable generalized quadratic loss, we obtain optimal Bayesian estimators of the parameters corresponding to the ...

  15. Security and Robustness issues in Collaborative Runtime Verification

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Testerink, B.J.G.; Bulling, N.; Dastani, M.M.

    2015-01-01

    Decentralized monitors can have robustness and security risks. Among robustness risks are attacks on the monitor's infrastructure in or- der to disable parts of its functionality. Among security risks are attacks that try to extract information from the monitor, and thereby possibly leak sensitive

  16. Real-time control systems: feedback, scheduling and robustness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simon, Daniel; Seuret, Alexandre; Sename, Olivier

    2017-08-01

    The efficient control of real-time distributed systems, where continuous components are governed through digital devices and communication networks, needs a careful examination of the constraints arising from the different involved domains inside co-design approaches. Thanks to the robustness of feedback control, both new control methodologies and slackened real-time scheduling schemes are proposed beyond the frontiers between these traditionally separated fields. A methodology to design robust aperiodic controllers is provided, where the sampling interval is considered as a control variable of the system. Promising experimental results are provided to show the feasibility and robustness of the approach.

  17. Robust synthetic biology design: stochastic game theory approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Bor-Sen; Chang, Chia-Hung; Lee, Hsiao-Ching

    2009-07-15

    Synthetic biology is to engineer artificial biological systems to investigate natural biological phenomena and for a variety of applications. However, the development of synthetic gene networks is still difficult and most newly created gene networks are non-functioning due to uncertain initial conditions and disturbances of extra-cellular environments on the host cell. At present, how to design a robust synthetic gene network to work properly under these uncertain factors is the most important topic of synthetic biology. A robust regulation design is proposed for a stochastic synthetic gene network to achieve the prescribed steady states under these uncertain factors from the minimax regulation perspective. This minimax regulation design problem can be transformed to an equivalent stochastic game problem. Since it is not easy to solve the robust regulation design problem of synthetic gene networks by non-linear stochastic game method directly, the Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy model is proposed to approximate the non-linear synthetic gene network via the linear matrix inequality (LMI) technique through the Robust Control Toolbox in Matlab. Finally, an in silico example is given to illustrate the design procedure and to confirm the efficiency and efficacy of the proposed robust gene design method. http://www.ee.nthu.edu.tw/bschen/SyntheticBioDesign_supplement.pdf.

  18. Occupant behaviour and robustness of building design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Buso, Tiziana; Fabi, Valentina; Andersen, Rune Korsholm

    2015-01-01

    in a dynamic building energy simulation tool (IDA ICE). The analysis was carried out by simulating 15 building envelope designs in different thermal zones of an Office Reference Building in 3 climates: Stockholm, Frankfurt and Athens.In general, robustness towards changes in occupants' behaviour increased......Occupant behaviour can cause major discrepancies between the designed and the real total energy use in buildings. A possible solution to reduce the differences between predictions and actual performances is designing robust buildings, i.e. buildings whose performances show little variations...... with alternating occupant behaviour patterns. The aim of this work was to investigate how alternating occupant behaviour patterns impact the performance of different envelope design solutions in terms of building robustness. Probabilistic models of occupants' window opening and use of shading were implemented...

  19. Robustness of quantum correlations against linear noise

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guo, Zhihua; Cao, Huaixin; Qu, Shixian

    2016-01-01

    Relative robustness of quantum correlations (RRoQC) of a bipartite state is firstly introduced relative to a classically correlated state. Robustness of quantum correlations (RoQC) of a bipartite state is then defined as the minimum of RRoQC of the state relative to all classically correlated ones. It is proved that as a function on quantum states, RoQC is nonnegative, lower semi-continuous and neither convex nor concave; especially, it is zero if and only if the state is classically correlated. Thus, RoQC not only quantifies the endurance of quantum correlations of a state against linear noise, but also can be used to distinguish between quantum and classically correlated states. Furthermore, the effects of local quantum channels on the robustness are explored and characterized. (paper)

  20. Understanding robustness as an image of sustainable agriculture

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Goede, de D.M.

    2014-01-01

    The general aim of the research described in this thesis is to contribute to a better understanding of the conceptualisation of robustness in agricultural science as well as its relevance to sustainability. Robustness rapidly gained attention as a potential solution for a variety of

  1. Oracle-based online robust optimization via online learning

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ben-Tal, A.; Hazan, E.; Koren, T.; Shie, M.

    2015-01-01

    Robust optimization is a common optimization framework under uncertainty when problem parameters are unknown, but it is known that they belong to some given uncertainty set. In the robust optimization framework, a min-max problem is solved wherein a solution is evaluated according to its performance

  2. Numerically robust geometry engine for compound solid geometries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vlachoudis, V.; Sinuela-Pastor, D.

    2013-01-01

    Monte Carlo programs heavily rely on a fast and numerically robust solid geometry engines. However the success of solid modeling, depends on facilities for specifying and editing parameterized models through a user-friendly graphical front-end. Such a user interface has to be fast enough in order to be interactive for 2D and/or 3D displays, but at the same time numerically robust in order to display possible modeling errors at real time that could be critical for the simulation. The graphical user interface Flair for FLUKA currently employs such an engine where special emphasis has been given on being fast and numerically robust. The numerically robustness is achieved by a novel method of estimating the floating precision of the operations, which dynamically adapts all the decision operations accordingly. Moreover a predictive caching mechanism is ensuring that logical errors in the geometry description are found online, without compromising the processing time by checking all regions. (authors)

  3. ROBUST CYLINDER FITTING IN THREE-DIMENSIONAL POINT CLOUD DATA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Nurunnabi

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper investigates the problems of cylinder fitting in laser scanning three-dimensional Point Cloud Data (PCD. Most existing methods require full cylinder data, do not study the presence of outliers, and are not statistically robust. But especially mobile laser scanning often has incomplete data, as street poles for example are only scanned from the road. Moreover, existence of outliers is common. Outliers may occur as random or systematic errors, and may be scattered and/or clustered. In this paper, we present a statistically robust cylinder fitting algorithm for PCD that combines Robust Principal Component Analysis (RPCA with robust regression. Robust principal components as obtained by RPCA allow estimating cylinder directions more accurately, and an existing efficient circle fitting algorithm following robust regression principles, properly fit cylinder. We demonstrate the performance of the proposed method on artificial and real PCD. Results show that the proposed method provides more accurate and robust results: (i in the presence of noise and high percentage of outliers, (ii for incomplete as well as complete data, (iii for small and large number of points, and (iv for different sizes of radius. On 1000 simulated quarter cylinders of 1m radius with 10% outliers a PCA based method fit cylinders with a radius of on average 3.63 meter (m; the proposed method on the other hand fit cylinders of on average 1.02 m radius. The algorithm has potential in applications such as fitting cylindrical (e.g., light and traffic poles, diameter at breast height estimation for trees, and building and bridge information modelling.

  4. Robust network topologies for generating switch-like cellular responses.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Najaf A Shah

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Signaling networks that convert graded stimuli into binary, all-or-none cellular responses are critical in processes ranging from cell-cycle control to lineage commitment. To exhaustively enumerate topologies that exhibit this switch-like behavior, we simulated all possible two- and three-component networks on random parameter sets, and assessed the resulting response profiles for both steepness (ultrasensitivity and extent of memory (bistability. Simulations were used to study purely enzymatic networks, purely transcriptional networks, and hybrid enzymatic/transcriptional networks, and the topologies in each class were rank ordered by parametric robustness (i.e., the percentage of applied parameter sets exhibiting ultrasensitivity or bistability. Results reveal that the distribution of network robustness is highly skewed, with the most robust topologies clustering into a small number of motifs. Hybrid networks are the most robust in generating ultrasensitivity (up to 28% and bistability (up to 18%; strikingly, a purely transcriptional framework is the most fragile in generating either ultrasensitive (up to 3% or bistable (up to 1% responses. The disparity in robustness among the network classes is due in part to zero-order ultrasensitivity, an enzyme-specific phenomenon, which repeatedly emerges as a particularly robust mechanism for generating nonlinearity and can act as a building block for switch-like responses. We also highlight experimentally studied examples of topologies enabling switching behavior, in both native and synthetic systems, that rank highly in our simulations. This unbiased approach for identifying topologies capable of a given response may be useful in discovering new natural motifs and in designing robust synthetic gene networks.

  5. Solving a robust airline crew pairing problem with column generation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Muter, I.; Birbil, S.I.; Bülbül, K.; Sahin, G.; Yenigün, H.; Tas, D.; Tüzün, D.

    2013-01-01

    In this study, we solve a robust version of the airline crew pairing problem. Our concept of robustness was partially shaped during our discussions with small local airlines in Turkey which may have to add a set of extra flights into their schedule at short notice during operation. Thus, robustness

  6. Engineering Robustness of Microbial Cell Factories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gong, Zhiwei; Nielsen, Jens; Zhou, Yongjin J

    2017-10-01

    Metabolic engineering and synthetic biology offer great prospects in developing microbial cell factories capable of converting renewable feedstocks into fuels, chemicals, food ingredients, and pharmaceuticals. However, prohibitively low production rate and mass concentration remain the major hurdles in industrial processes even though the biosynthetic pathways are comprehensively optimized. These limitations are caused by a variety of factors unamenable for host cell survival, such as harsh industrial conditions, fermentation inhibitors from biomass hydrolysates, and toxic compounds including metabolic intermediates and valuable target products. Therefore, engineered microbes with robust phenotypes is essential for achieving higher yield and productivity. In this review, the recent advances in engineering robustness and tolerance of cell factories is described to cope with these issues and briefly introduce novel strategies with great potential to enhance the robustness of cell factories, including metabolic pathway balancing, transporter engineering, and adaptive laboratory evolution. This review also highlights the integration of advanced systems and synthetic biology principles toward engineering the harmony of overall cell function, more than the specific pathways or enzymes. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  7. Mutational robustness of gene regulatory networks.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aalt D J van Dijk

    Full Text Available Mutational robustness of gene regulatory networks refers to their ability to generate constant biological output upon mutations that change network structure. Such networks contain regulatory interactions (transcription factor-target gene interactions but often also protein-protein interactions between transcription factors. Using computational modeling, we study factors that influence robustness and we infer several network properties governing it. These include the type of mutation, i.e. whether a regulatory interaction or a protein-protein interaction is mutated, and in the case of mutation of a regulatory interaction, the sign of the interaction (activating vs. repressive. In addition, we analyze the effect of combinations of mutations and we compare networks containing monomeric with those containing dimeric transcription factors. Our results are consistent with available data on biological networks, for example based on evolutionary conservation of network features. As a novel and remarkable property, we predict that networks are more robust against mutations in monomer than in dimer transcription factors, a prediction for which analysis of conservation of DNA binding residues in monomeric vs. dimeric transcription factors provides indirect evidence.

  8. Robust Position Control of Electro-mechanical Systems

    OpenAIRE

    Rong Mei; Mou Chen

    2013-01-01

    In this work, the robust position control scheme is proposed for the electro-mechanical system using the disturbance observer and backstepping control method. To the external unknown load of the electro-mechanical system, the nonlinear disturbance observer is given to estimate the external unknown load. Combining the output of the developed nonlinear disturbance observer with backstepping technology, the robust position control scheme is proposed for the electro-mechanical system. The stabili...

  9. Robust Optimization for Household Load Scheduling with Uncertain Parameters

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jidong Wang

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Home energy management systems (HEMS face many challenges of uncertainty, which have a great impact on the scheduling of home appliances. To handle the uncertain parameters in the household load scheduling problem, this paper uses a robust optimization method to rebuild the household load scheduling model for home energy management. The model proposed in this paper can provide the complete robust schedules for customers while considering the disturbance of uncertain parameters. The complete robust schedules can not only guarantee the customers’ comfort constraints but also cooperatively schedule the electric devices for cost minimization and load shifting. Moreover, it is available for customers to obtain multiple schedules through setting different robust levels while considering the trade-off between the comfort and economy.

  10. Robustness of networks against propagating attacks under vaccination strategies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hasegawa, Takehisa; Masuda, Naoki

    2011-01-01

    We study the effect of vaccination on the robustness of networks against propagating attacks that obey the susceptible–infected–removed model. By extending the generating function formalism developed by Newman (2005 Phys. Rev. Lett. 95 108701), we analytically determine the robustness of networks that depends on the vaccination parameters. We consider the random defense where nodes are vaccinated randomly and the degree-based defense where hubs are preferentially vaccinated. We show that, when vaccines are inefficient, the random graph is more robust against propagating attacks than the scale-free network. When vaccines are relatively efficient, the scale-free network with the degree-based defense is more robust than the random graph with the random defense and the scale-free network with the random defense

  11. Robust-BD Estimation and Inference for General Partially Linear Models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chunming Zhang

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available The classical quadratic loss for the partially linear model (PLM and the likelihood function for the generalized PLM are not resistant to outliers. This inspires us to propose a class of “robust-Bregman divergence (BD” estimators of both the parametric and nonparametric components in the general partially linear model (GPLM, which allows the distribution of the response variable to be partially specified, without being fully known. Using the local-polynomial function estimation method, we propose a computationally-efficient procedure for obtaining “robust-BD” estimators and establish the consistency and asymptotic normality of the “robust-BD” estimator of the parametric component β o . For inference procedures of β o in the GPLM, we show that the Wald-type test statistic W n constructed from the “robust-BD” estimators is asymptotically distribution free under the null, whereas the likelihood ratio-type test statistic Λ n is not. This provides an insight into the distinction from the asymptotic equivalence (Fan and Huang 2005 between W n and Λ n in the PLM constructed from profile least-squares estimators using the non-robust quadratic loss. Numerical examples illustrate the computational effectiveness of the proposed “robust-BD” estimators and robust Wald-type test in the appearance of outlying observations.

  12. TARCMO: Theory and Algorithms for Robust, Combinatorial, Multicriteria Optimization

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-11-28

    methods is presented in the book chapter [CG16d]. 4.4 Robust Timetable Information Problems. Timetable information is the process of determining a...Princeton and Oxford, 2009. [BTN98] A. Ben-Tal and A. Nemirovski. Robust convex optimization. Math - ematics of Operations Research, 23(4):769–805...Goerigk. A note on upper bounds to the robust knapsack problem with discrete scenarios. Annals of Operations Research, 223(1):461–469, 2014. [GS16] M

  13. Chromatin regulators, phenotypic robustness and autism risk

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Reut eSuliman

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Though extensively characterized clinically, the causes of autism spectrum disorder (ASD remain a mystery. ASD is known to have a strong genetic basis, but it is genetically very heterogeneous. Recent studies have estimated that de novo disruptive mutations in hundreds of genes may contribute to ASD. However, it is unclear how it is possible for mutations in so many different genes to contribute to ASD. Recent findings suggest that many of the mutations disrupt genes involved in transcription regulation that are expressed prenatally in the developing brain. De novo disruptive mutations are also more frequent in girls with ASD, despite the fact that ASD is more prevalent in boys. In this paper, we hypothesize that loss of robustness may contribute to ASD. Loss of phenotypic robustness may be caused by mutations that disrupt capacitors that operate in the developing brain. This may lead to the release of cryptic genetic variation that contributes to ASD. Reduced robustness is consistent with the observed variability in expressivity and incomplete penetrance. It is also consistent with the hypothesis that the development of the female brain is more robust, and it may explain the higher rate and severity of disruptive de novo mutations in girls with ASD.

  14. Robust Optimization for Time-Cost Tradeoff Problem in Construction Projects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ming Li

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Construction projects are generally subject to uncertainty, which influences the realization of time-cost tradeoff in project management. This paper addresses a time-cost tradeoff problem under uncertainty, in which activities in projects can be executed in different construction modes corresponding to specified time and cost with interval uncertainty. Based on multiobjective robust optimization method, a robust optimization model for time-cost tradeoff problem is developed. In order to illustrate the robust model, nondominated sorting genetic algorithm-II (NSGA-II is modified to solve the project example. The results show that, by means of adjusting the time and cost robust coefficients, the robust Pareto sets for time-cost tradeoff can be obtained according to different acceptable risk level, from which the decision maker could choose the preferred construction alternative.

  15. Robust Airline Schedules

    OpenAIRE

    Eggenberg, Niklaus; Salani, Matteo; Bierlaire, Michel

    2010-01-01

    Due to economic pressure industries, when planning, tend to focus on optimizing the expected profit or the yield. The consequence of highly optimized solutions is an increased sensitivity to uncertainty. This generates additional "operational" costs, incurred by possible modifications of the original plan to be performed when reality does not reflect what was expected in the planning phase. The modern research trend focuses on "robustness" of solutions instead of yield or profit. Although ro...

  16. Robust input design for nonlinear dynamic modeling of AUV.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nouri, Nowrouz Mohammad; Valadi, Mehrdad

    2017-09-01

    Input design has a dominant role in developing the dynamic model of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) through system identification. Optimal input design is the process of generating informative inputs that can be used to generate the good quality dynamic model of AUVs. In a problem with optimal input design, the desired input signal depends on the unknown system which is intended to be identified. In this paper, the input design approach which is robust to uncertainties in model parameters is used. The Bayesian robust design strategy is applied to design input signals for dynamic modeling of AUVs. The employed approach can design multiple inputs and apply constraints on an AUV system's inputs and outputs. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is employed to solve the constraint robust optimization problem. The presented algorithm is used for designing the input signals for an AUV, and the estimate obtained by robust input design is compared with that of the optimal input design. According to the results, proposed input design can satisfy both robustness of constraints and optimality. Copyright © 2017 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Robust speaker recognition in noisy environments

    CERN Document Server

    Rao, K Sreenivasa

    2014-01-01

    This book discusses speaker recognition methods to deal with realistic variable noisy environments. The text covers authentication systems for; robust noisy background environments, functions in real time and incorporated in mobile devices. The book focuses on different approaches to enhance the accuracy of speaker recognition in presence of varying background environments. The authors examine: (a) Feature compensation using multiple background models, (b) Feature mapping using data-driven stochastic models, (c) Design of super vector- based GMM-SVM framework for robust speaker recognition, (d) Total variability modeling (i-vectors) in a discriminative framework and (e) Boosting method to fuse evidences from multiple SVM models.

  18. Robust median estimator in logisitc regression

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Hobza, T.; Pardo, L.; Vajda, Igor

    2008-01-01

    Roč. 138, č. 12 (2008), s. 3822-3840 ISSN 0378-3758 R&D Projects: GA MŠk 1M0572 Grant - others:Instituto Nacional de Estadistica (ES) MPO FI - IM3/136; GA MŠk(CZ) MTM 2006-06872 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10750506 Keywords : Logistic regression * Median * Robustness * Consistency and asymptotic normality * Morgenthaler * Bianco and Yohai * Croux and Hasellbroeck Subject RIV: BB - Applied Statistics, Operational Research Impact factor: 0.679, year: 2008 http://library.utia.cas.cz/separaty/2008/SI/vajda-robust%20median%20estimator%20in%20logistic%20regression.pdf

  19. Robust-mode analysis of hydrodynamic flows

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roy, Sukesh; Gord, James R.; Hua, Jia-Chen; Gunaratne, Gemunu H.

    2017-04-01

    The emergence of techniques to extract high-frequency high-resolution data introduces a new avenue for modal decomposition to assess the underlying dynamics, especially of complex flows. However, this task requires the differentiation of robust, repeatable flow constituents from noise and other irregular features of a flow. Traditional approaches involving low-pass filtering and principle components analysis have shortcomings. The approach outlined here, referred to as robust-mode analysis, is based on Koopman decomposition. Three applications to (a) a counter-rotating cellular flame state, (b) variations in financial markets, and (c) turbulent injector flows are provided.

  20. Perspectives on innovative characterization and remediation technologies for contaminated sites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kovalick, W.W. Jr.

    2002-01-01

    Contaminated soil and groundwater have been the subject of legislative attention in the U.S. for about 20 years. Major strides in implementing cleanup programs have been accomplished. From complex abandoned hazardous waste sites to underground petroleum storage tanks to (more recently) Brownfields redevelopment, much assessment and remediation work have been carried out. This paper describes some of the data on the kinds of contamination, media, and technologies deployed to deal with problems at these sites. In addition, it highlights technology partnerships that have evolved to demonstrate and verify site measurement and clean-up technologies and to assure a more robust set of clean-up options. Finally, the advent of the Internet has increased access to a considerable body of publicly available information on the cost and performance of these technologies that might be of interest. (author)

  1. Robust on-off pulse control of flexible space vehicles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wie, Bong; Sinha, Ravi

    1993-01-01

    The on-off reaction jet control system is often used for attitude and orbital maneuvering of various spacecraft. Future space vehicles such as the orbital transfer vehicles, orbital maneuvering vehicles, and space station will extensively use reaction jets for orbital maneuvering and attitude stabilization. The proposed robust fuel- and time-optimal control algorithm is used for a three-mass spacing model of flexible spacecraft. A fuel-efficient on-off control logic is developed for robust rest-to-rest maneuver of a flexible vehicle with minimum excitation of structural modes. The first part of this report is concerned with the problem of selecting a proper pair of jets for practical trade-offs among the maneuvering time, fuel consumption, structural mode excitation, and performance robustness. A time-optimal control problem subject to parameter robustness constraints is formulated and solved. The second part of this report deals with obtaining parameter insensitive fuel- and time- optimal control inputs by solving a constrained optimization problem subject to robustness constraints. It is shown that sensitivity to modeling errors can be significantly reduced by the proposed, robustified open-loop control approach. The final part of this report deals with sliding mode control design for uncertain flexible structures. The benchmark problem of a flexible structure is used as an example for the feedback sliding mode controller design with bounded control inputs and robustness to parameter variations is investigated.

  2. Trading Robustness Requirements in Mars Entry Trajectory Design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lafleur, Jarret M.

    2009-01-01

    One of the most important metrics characterizing an atmospheric entry trajectory in preliminary design is the size of its predicted landing ellipse. Often, requirements for this ellipse are set early in design and significantly influence both the expected scientific return from a particular mission and the cost of development. Requirements typically specify a certain probability level (6-level) for the prescribed ellipse, and frequently this latter requirement is taken at 36. However, searches for the justification of 36 as a robustness requirement suggest it is an empirical rule of thumb borrowed from non-aerospace fields. This paper presents an investigation into the sensitivity of trajectory performance to varying robustness (6-level) requirements. The treatment of robustness as a distinct objective is discussed, and an analysis framework is presented involving the manipulation of design variables to effect trades between performance and robustness objectives. The scenario for which this method is illustrated is the ballistic entry of an MSL-class Mars entry vehicle. Here, the design variable is entry flight path angle, and objectives are parachute deploy altitude performance and error ellipse robustness. Resulting plots show the sensitivities between these objectives and trends in the entry flight path angles required to design to these objectives. Relevance to the trajectory designer is discussed, as are potential steps for further development and use of this type of analysis.

  3. Robust Forecasting of Non-Stationary Time Series

    OpenAIRE

    Croux, C.; Fried, R.; Gijbels, I.; Mahieu, K.

    2010-01-01

    This paper proposes a robust forecasting method for non-stationary time series. The time series is modelled using non-parametric heteroscedastic regression, and fitted by a localized MM-estimator, combining high robustness and large efficiency. The proposed method is shown to produce reliable forecasts in the presence of outliers, non-linearity, and heteroscedasticity. In the absence of outliers, the forecasts are only slightly less precise than those based on a localized Least Squares estima...

  4. Robust design of large-displacement compliant mechanisms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lazarov, Boyan Stefanov; Schevenels, M.; Sigmund, Ole

    2011-01-01

    The aim of this article is to introduce a new topology optimisation formulation for optimal robust design of Micro Electro Mechanical Systems. Mesh independence in topology optimisation is most often ensured by using filtering techniques, which result in transition grey regions difficult to inter...... in nearly black and white mechanism designs, robust with respect to uncertainties in the production process, i.e. without any hinges or small details which can create manufacturing difficulties....

  5. Antecedents and Dimensions of Supply Chain Robustness

    OpenAIRE

    Durach, Christian F.; Wieland, Andreas; Machuca, Jose A.D.

    2015-01-01

    Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide groundwork for an emerging theory of supply chain robustness – which has been conceptualized as a dimension of supply chain resilience – through reviewing and synthesizing related yet disconnected studies. The paper develops a formal definition of supply chain robustness to build a framework that captures the dimensions, antecedents and moderators of the construct as discussed in the literature. Design/methodology/approach – The...

  6. Computation of robustly stabilizing PID controllers for interval systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matušů, Radek; Prokop, Roman

    2016-01-01

    The paper is focused on the computation of all possible robustly stabilizing Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controllers for plants with interval uncertainty. The main idea of the proposed method is based on Tan's (et al.) technique for calculation of (nominally) stabilizing PI and PID controllers or robustly stabilizing PI controllers by means of plotting the stability boundary locus in either P-I plane or P-I-D space. Refinement of the existing method by consideration of 16 segment plants instead of 16 Kharitonov plants provides an elegant and efficient tool for finding all robustly stabilizing PID controllers for an interval system. The validity and relatively effortless application of presented theoretical concepts are demonstrated through a computation and simulation example in which the uncertain mathematical model of an experimental oblique wing aircraft is robustly stabilized.

  7. The effectiveness of robust RMCD control chart as outliers’ detector

    Science.gov (United States)

    Darmanto; Astutik, Suci

    2017-12-01

    A well-known control chart to monitor a multivariate process is Hotelling’s T 2 which its parameters are estimated classically, very sensitive and also marred by masking and swamping of outliers data effect. To overcome these situation, robust estimators are strongly recommended. One of robust estimators is re-weighted minimum covariance determinant (RMCD) which has robust characteristics as same as MCD. In this paper, the effectiveness term is accuracy of the RMCD control chart in detecting outliers as real outliers. In other word, how effectively this control chart can identify and remove masking and swamping effects of outliers. We assessed the effectiveness the robust control chart based on simulation by considering different scenarios: n sample sizes, proportion of outliers, number of p quality characteristics. We found that in some scenarios, this RMCD robust control chart works effectively.

  8. Robust H2 performance for sampled-data systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rank, Mike Lind

    1997-01-01

    Robust H2 performance conditions under structured uncertainty, analogous to well known methods for H∞ performance, have recently emerged in both discrete and continuous-time. This paper considers the extension into uncertain sampled-data systems, taking into account inter-sample behavior. Convex...... conditions for robust H2 performance are derived for different uncertainty sets...

  9. Robust Methods for Moderation Analysis with a Two-Level Regression Model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Miao; Yuan, Ke-Hai

    2016-01-01

    Moderation analysis has many applications in social sciences. Most widely used estimation methods for moderation analysis assume that errors are normally distributed and homoscedastic. When these assumptions are not met, the results from a classical moderation analysis can be misleading. For more reliable moderation analysis, this article proposes two robust methods with a two-level regression model when the predictors do not contain measurement error. One method is based on maximum likelihood with Student's t distribution and the other is based on M-estimators with Huber-type weights. An algorithm for obtaining the robust estimators is developed. Consistent estimates of standard errors of the robust estimators are provided. The robust approaches are compared against normal-distribution-based maximum likelihood (NML) with respect to power and accuracy of parameter estimates through a simulation study. Results show that the robust approaches outperform NML under various distributional conditions. Application of the robust methods is illustrated through a real data example. An R program is developed and documented to facilitate the application of the robust methods.

  10. Robustness of Supercavitating Vehicles Based on Multistability Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yipin Lv

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Supercavity can increase speed of underwater vehicles greatly. However, external interferences always lead to instability of vehicles. This paper focuses on robustness of supercavitating vehicles. Based on a 4-dimensional dynamic model, the existence of multistability is verified in supercavitating system through simulation, and the robustness of vehicles varying with parameters is analyzed by basins of attraction. Results of the research disclose that the supercavitating system has three stable states in some regions of parameters space, namely, stable, periodic, and chaotic states, while in other regions it has various multistability, such as coexistence of two types of stable equilibrium points, coexistence of a limit cycle with a chaotic attractor, and coexistence of 1-periodic cycle with 2-periodic cycle. Provided that cavitation number varies within a small range, with increase of the feedback control gain of fin deflection angle, size of basin of attraction becomes smaller and robustness of the system becomes weaker. In practical application, robustness of supercavitating vehicles can be improved by setting parameters of system or adjusting initial launching conditions.

  11. Robust optimization methods for cardiac sparing in tangential breast IMRT

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mahmoudzadeh, Houra, E-mail: houra@mie.utoronto.ca [Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G8 (Canada); Lee, Jenny [Radiation Medicine Program, UHN Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, Ontario M5G 2M9 (Canada); Chan, Timothy C. Y. [Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G8, Canada and Techna Institute for the Advancement of Technology for Health, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1P5 (Canada); Purdie, Thomas G. [Radiation Medicine Program, UHN Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, Ontario M5G 2M9 (Canada); Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3S2 (Canada); Techna Institute for the Advancement of Technology for Health, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1P5 (Canada)

    2015-05-15

    Purpose: In left-sided tangential breast intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), the heart may enter the radiation field and receive excessive radiation while the patient is breathing. The patient’s breathing pattern is often irregular and unpredictable. We verify the clinical applicability of a heart-sparing robust optimization approach for breast IMRT. We compare robust optimized plans with clinical plans at free-breathing and clinical plans at deep inspiration breath-hold (DIBH) using active breathing control (ABC). Methods: Eight patients were included in the study with each patient simulated using 4D-CT. The 4D-CT image acquisition generated ten breathing phase datasets. An average scan was constructed using all the phase datasets. Two of the eight patients were also imaged at breath-hold using ABC. The 4D-CT datasets were used to calculate the accumulated dose for robust optimized and clinical plans based on deformable registration. We generated a set of simulated breathing probability mass functions, which represent the fraction of time patients spend in different breathing phases. The robust optimization method was applied to each patient using a set of dose-influence matrices extracted from the 4D-CT data and a model of the breathing motion uncertainty. The goal of the optimization models was to minimize the dose to the heart while ensuring dose constraints on the target were achieved under breathing motion uncertainty. Results: Robust optimized plans were improved or equivalent to the clinical plans in terms of heart sparing for all patients studied. The robust method reduced the accumulated heart dose (D10cc) by up to 801 cGy compared to the clinical method while also improving the coverage of the accumulated whole breast target volume. On average, the robust method reduced the heart dose (D10cc) by 364 cGy and improved the optBreast dose (D99%) by 477 cGy. In addition, the robust method had smaller deviations from the planned dose to the

  12. Robust extraction of baseline signal of atmospheric trace species using local regression

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruckstuhl, A. F.; Henne, S.; Reimann, S.; Steinbacher, M.; Vollmer, M. K.; O'Doherty, S.; Buchmann, B.; Hueglin, C.

    2012-11-01

    The identification of atmospheric trace species measurements that are representative of well-mixed background air masses is required for monitoring atmospheric composition change at background sites. We present a statistical method based on robust local regression that is well suited for the selection of background measurements and the estimation of associated baseline curves. The bootstrap technique is applied to calculate the uncertainty in the resulting baseline curve. The non-parametric nature of the proposed approach makes it a very flexible data filtering method. Application to carbon monoxide (CO) measured from 1996 to 2009 at the high-alpine site Jungfraujoch (Switzerland, 3580 m a.s.l.), and to measurements of 1,1-difluoroethane (HFC-152a) from Jungfraujoch (2000 to 2009) and Mace Head (Ireland, 1995 to 2009) demonstrates the feasibility and usefulness of the proposed approach. The determined average annual change of CO at Jungfraujoch for the 1996 to 2009 period as estimated from filtered annual mean CO concentrations is -2.2 ± 1.1 ppb yr-1. For comparison, the linear trend of unfiltered CO measurements at Jungfraujoch for this time period is -2.9 ± 1.3 ppb yr-1.

  13. Robust optimization for load scheduling of a smart home with photovoltaic system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Chengshan; Zhou, Yue; Jiao, Bingqi; Wang, Yamin; Liu, Wenjian; Wang, Dan

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Robust household load scheduling is presented for smart homes with PV system. • A robust counterpart is formulated to deal with PV output uncertainty. • The robust counterpart is finally transformed to a quadratic programming problem. • Load schedules with different robustness can be made by the proposed method. • Feed-in tariff and PV output would affect the significance of the proposed method. - Abstract: In this paper, a robust approach is developed to tackle the uncertainty of PV power output for load scheduling of smart homes integrated with household PV system. Specifically, a robust formulation is proposed and further transformed to an equivalent quadratic programming problem. Day-ahead load schedules with different robustness can be generated by solving the proposed robust formulation with different predefined parameters. The validity and advantage of the proposed approach has been verified by simulation results. Also, the effects of feed-in tariff and PV output have been evaluated

  14. Handling Occlusions for Robust Augmented Reality Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maidi Madjid

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract In Augmented Reality applications, the human perception is enhanced with computer-generated graphics. These graphics must be exactly registered to real objects in the scene and this requires an effective Augmented Reality system to track the user's viewpoint. In this paper, a robust tracking algorithm based on coded fiducials is presented. Square targets are identified and pose parameters are computed using a hybrid approach based on a direct method combined with the Kalman filter. An important factor for providing a robust Augmented Reality system is the correct handling of targets occlusions by real scene elements. To overcome tracking failure due to occlusions, we extend our method using an optical flow approach to track visible points and maintain virtual graphics overlaying when targets are not identified. Our proposed real-time algorithm is tested with different camera viewpoints under various image conditions and shows to be accurate and robust.

  15. Robust Mediation Analysis Based on Median Regression

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuan, Ying; MacKinnon, David P.

    2014-01-01

    Mediation analysis has many applications in psychology and the social sciences. The most prevalent methods typically assume that the error distribution is normal and homoscedastic. However, this assumption may rarely be met in practice, which can affect the validity of the mediation analysis. To address this problem, we propose robust mediation analysis based on median regression. Our approach is robust to various departures from the assumption of homoscedasticity and normality, including heavy-tailed, skewed, contaminated, and heteroscedastic distributions. Simulation studies show that under these circumstances, the proposed method is more efficient and powerful than standard mediation analysis. We further extend the proposed robust method to multilevel mediation analysis, and demonstrate through simulation studies that the new approach outperforms the standard multilevel mediation analysis. We illustrate the proposed method using data from a program designed to increase reemployment and enhance mental health of job seekers. PMID:24079925

  16. Evaluation of Robust Estimators Applied to Fluorescence Assays

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    U. Ruotsalainen

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available We evaluated standard robust methods in the estimation of fluorescence signal in novel assays used for determining the biomolecule concentrations. The objective was to obtain an accurate and reliable estimate using as few observations as possible by decreasing the influence of outliers. We assumed the true signals to have Gaussian distribution, while no assumptions about the outliers were made. The experimental results showed that arithmetic mean performs poorly even with the modest deviations. Further, the robust methods, especially the M-estimators, performed extremely well. The results proved that the use of robust methods is advantageous in the estimation problems where noise and deviations are significant, such as in biological and medical applications.

  17. Towards robust optimal design of storm water systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marquez Calvo, Oscar; Solomatine, Dimitri

    2015-04-01

    In this study the focus is on the design of a storm water or a combined sewer system. Such a system should be capable to handle properly most of the storm to minimize the damages caused by flooding due to the lack of capacity of the system to cope with rain water at peak times. This problem is a multi-objective optimization problem: we have to take into account the minimization of the construction costs, the minimization of damage costs due to flooding, and possibly other criteria. One of the most important factors influencing the design of storm water systems is the expected amount of water to deal with. It is common that this infrastructure is developed with the capacity to cope with events that occur once in, say 10 or 20 years - so-called design rainfall events. However, rainfall is a random variable and such uncertainty typically is not taken explicitly into account in optimization. Rainfall design data is based on historical information of rainfalls, but many times this data is based on unreliable measures; or in not enough historical information; or as we know, the patterns of rainfall are changing regardless of historical information. There are also other sources of uncertainty influencing design, for example, leakages in the pipes and accumulation of sediments in pipes. In the context of storm water or combined sewer systems design or rehabilitation, robust optimization technique should be able to find the best design (or rehabilitation plan) within the available budget but taking into account uncertainty in those variables that were used to design the system. In this work we consider various approaches to robust optimization proposed by various authors (Gabrel, Murat, Thiele 2013; Beyer, Sendhoff 2007) and test a novel method ROPAR (Solomatine 2012) to analyze robustness. References Beyer, H.G., & Sendhoff, B. (2007). Robust optimization - A comprehensive survey. Comput. Methods Appl. Mech. Engrg., 3190-3218. Gabrel, V.; Murat, C., Thiele, A. (2014

  18. UNIX-based operating systems robustness evaluation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Yu-Ming

    1996-01-01

    Robust operating systems are required for reliable computing. Techniques for robustness evaluation of operating systems not only enhance the understanding of the reliability of computer systems, but also provide valuable feed- back to system designers. This thesis presents results from robustness evaluation experiments on five UNIX-based operating systems, which include Digital Equipment's OSF/l, Hewlett Packard's HP-UX, Sun Microsystems' Solaris and SunOS, and Silicon Graphics' IRIX. Three sets of experiments were performed. The methodology for evaluation tested (1) the exception handling mechanism, (2) system resource management, and (3) system capacity under high workload stress. An exception generator was used to evaluate the exception handling mechanism of the operating systems. Results included exit status of the exception generator and the system state. Resource management techniques used by individual operating systems were tested using programs designed to usurp system resources such as physical memory and process slots. Finally, the workload stress testing evaluated the effect of the workload on system performance by running a synthetic workload and recording the response time of local and remote user requests. Moderate to severe performance degradations were observed on the systems under stress.

  19. Robustness of airline alliance route networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lordan, Oriol; Sallan, Jose M.; Simo, Pep; Gonzalez-Prieto, David

    2015-05-01

    The aim of this study is to analyze the robustness of the three major airline alliances' (i.e., Star Alliance, oneworld and SkyTeam) route networks. Firstly, the normalization of a multi-scale measure of vulnerability is proposed in order to perform the analysis in networks with different sizes, i.e., number of nodes. An alternative node selection criterion is also proposed in order to study robustness and vulnerability of such complex networks, based on network efficiency. And lastly, a new procedure - the inverted adaptive strategy - is presented to sort the nodes in order to anticipate network breakdown. Finally, the robustness of the three alliance networks are analyzed with (1) a normalized multi-scale measure of vulnerability, (2) an adaptive strategy based on four different criteria and (3) an inverted adaptive strategy based on the efficiency criterion. The results show that Star Alliance has the most resilient route network, followed by SkyTeam and then oneworld. It was also shown that the inverted adaptive strategy based on the efficiency criterion - inverted efficiency - shows a great success in quickly breaking networks similar to that found with betweenness criterion but with even better results.

  20. Copyright Protection of Color Imaging Using Robust-Encoded Watermarking

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Cedillo-Hernandez

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we present a robust-encoded watermarking method applied to color images for copyright protection, which presents robustness against several geometric and signal processing distortions. Trade-off between payload, robustness and imperceptibility is a very important aspect which has to be considered when a watermark algorithm is designed. In our proposed scheme, previously to be embedded into the image, the watermark signal is encoded using a convolutional encoder, which can perform forward error correction achieving better robustness performance. Then, the embedding process is carried out through the discrete cosine transform domain (DCT of an image using the image normalization technique to accomplish robustness against geometric and signal processing distortions. The embedded watermark coded bits are extracted and decoded using the Viterbi algorithm. In order to determine the presence or absence of the watermark into the image we compute the bit error rate (BER between the recovered and the original watermark data sequence. The quality of the watermarked image is measured using the well-known indices: Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR, Visual Information Fidelity (VIF and Structural Similarity Index (SSIM. The color difference between the watermarked and original images is obtained by using the Normalized Color Difference (NCD measure. The experimental results show that the proposed method provides good performance in terms of imperceptibility and robustness. The comparison among the proposed and previously reported methods based on different techniques is also provided.

  1. Newton-Gauss Algorithm of Robust Weighted Total Least Squares Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    WANG Bin

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Based on the Newton-Gauss iterative algorithm of weighted total least squares (WTLS, a robust WTLS (RWTLS model is presented. The model utilizes the standardized residuals to construct the weight factor function and the square root of the variance component estimator with robustness is obtained by introducing the median method. Therefore, the robustness in both the observation and structure spaces can be simultaneously achieved. To obtain standardized residuals, the linearly approximate cofactor propagation law is employed to derive the expression of the cofactor matrix of WTLS residuals. The iterative calculation steps for RWTLS are also described. The experiment indicates that the model proposed in this paper exhibits satisfactory robustness for gross errors handling problem of WTLS, the obtained parameters have no significant difference with the results of WTLS without gross errors. Therefore, it is superior to the robust weighted total least squares model directly constructed with residuals.

  2. Second order statistics of bilinear forms of robust scatter estimators

    KAUST Repository

    Kammoun, Abla

    2015-08-12

    This paper lies in the lineage of recent works studying the asymptotic behaviour of robust-scatter estimators in the case where the number of observations and the dimension of the population covariance matrix grow at infinity with the same pace. In particular, we analyze the fluctuations of bilinear forms of the robust shrinkage estimator of covariance matrix. We show that this result can be leveraged in order to improve the design of robust detection methods. As an example, we provide an improved generalized likelihood ratio based detector which combines robustness to impulsive observations and optimality across the shrinkage parameter, the optimality being considered for the false alarm regulation.

  3. Robust hydraulic position controller by a fuzzy state controller

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhao, T.; Van der Wal, A.J.

    1994-01-01

    In nuclear industry, one of the most important design considerations of controllers is their robustness. Robustness in this context is defined as the ability of a system to be controlled in a stable way over a wide range of system parameters. Generally the systems to be controlled are linearized, and stability is subsequently proven for this idealized system. By combining classical control theory and fuzzy set theory, a new kind of state controller is proposed and successfully applied to a hydraulic position servo with excellent robustness against variation of system parameters

  4. Robust Helicopter Stabilization in the Face of Wind Disturbance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    A. Danapalasingam, Kumeresan; Leth, John-Josef; la Cour-Harbo, Anders

    2010-01-01

    When a helicopter is required to hover with minimum deviations from a desired position without measurements of an affecting persistent wind disturbance, a robustly stabilizing control action is vital. In this paper, the stabilization of the position and translational velocity of a nonlinear...... controller is then designed based on nonlinear adaptive output regulations and robust stabilization of a chain of integrators by a saturated feedback. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the control design in the stabilization of helicopter motion and the built-in robustness of the controller...

  5. Heavy-tailed distributions and robustness in economics and finance

    CERN Document Server

    Ibragimov, Marat; Walden, Johan

    2015-01-01

    This book focuses on general frameworks for modeling heavy-tailed distributions in economics, finance, econometrics, statistics, risk management and insurance. A central theme is that of (non-)robustness, i.e., the fact that the presence of heavy tails can either reinforce or reverse the implications of a number of models in these fields, depending on the degree of heavy-tailedness. These results motivate the development and applications of robust inference approaches under heavy tails, heterogeneity and dependence in observations. Several recently developed robust inference approaches are discussed and illustrated, together with applications.

  6. On robust forecasting of autoregressive time series under censoring

    OpenAIRE

    Kharin, Y.; Badziahin, I.

    2009-01-01

    Problems of robust statistical forecasting are considered for autoregressive time series observed under distortions generated by interval censoring. Three types of robust forecasting statistics are developed; meansquare risk is evaluated for the developed forecasting statistics. Numerical results are given.

  7. The role of robust optimization in single-leg airline revenue management

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Birbil, S.I.; Frenk, J.B.G.; Gromicho Dos Santos, J.A.; Zhang, S.

    2009-01-01

    In this paper, we introduce robust versions of the classical static and dynamic single-leg seat allocation models. These robust models take into account the inaccurate estimates of the underlying probability distributions. As observed by simulation experiments, it turns out that for these robust

  8. Ensemble Modeling for Robustness Analysis in engineering non-native metabolic pathways.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Yun; Lafontaine Rivera, Jimmy G; Liao, James C

    2014-09-01

    Metabolic pathways in cells must be sufficiently robust to tolerate fluctuations in expression levels and changes in environmental conditions. Perturbations in expression levels may lead to system failure due to the disappearance of a stable steady state. Increasing evidence has suggested that biological networks have evolved such that they are intrinsically robust in their network structure. In this article, we presented Ensemble Modeling for Robustness Analysis (EMRA), which combines a continuation method with the Ensemble Modeling approach, for investigating the robustness issue of non-native pathways. EMRA investigates a large ensemble of reference models with different parameters, and determines the effects of parameter drifting until a bifurcation point, beyond which a stable steady state disappears and system failure occurs. A pathway is considered to have high bifurcational robustness if the probability of system failure is low in the ensemble. To demonstrate the utility of EMRA, we investigate the bifurcational robustness of two synthetic central metabolic pathways that achieve carbon conservation: non-oxidative glycolysis and reverse glyoxylate cycle. With EMRA, we determined the probability of system failure of each design and demonstrated that alternative designs of these pathways indeed display varying degrees of bifurcational robustness. Furthermore, we demonstrated that target selection for flux improvement should consider the trade-offs between robustness and performance. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. Design optimization for cost and quality: The robust design approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Unal, Resit

    1990-01-01

    Designing reliable, low cost, and operable space systems has become the key to future space operations. Designing high quality space systems at low cost is an economic and technological challenge to the designer. A systematic and efficient way to meet this challenge is a new method of design optimization for performance, quality, and cost, called Robust Design. Robust Design is an approach for design optimization. It consists of: making system performance insensitive to material and subsystem variation, thus allowing the use of less costly materials and components; making designs less sensitive to the variations in the operating environment, thus improving reliability and reducing operating costs; and using a new structured development process so that engineering time is used most productively. The objective in Robust Design is to select the best combination of controllable design parameters so that the system is most robust to uncontrollable noise factors. The robust design methodology uses a mathematical tool called an orthogonal array, from design of experiments theory, to study a large number of decision variables with a significantly small number of experiments. Robust design also uses a statistical measure of performance, called a signal-to-noise ratio, from electrical control theory, to evaluate the level of performance and the effect of noise factors. The purpose is to investigate the Robust Design methodology for improving quality and cost, demonstrate its application by the use of an example, and suggest its use as an integral part of space system design process.

  10. Robust Object Tracking Using Valid Fragments Selection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Jin; Li, Bo; Tian, Peng; Luo, Gang

    Local features are widely used in visual tracking to improve robustness in cases of partial occlusion, deformation and rotation. This paper proposes a local fragment-based object tracking algorithm. Unlike many existing fragment-based algorithms that allocate the weights to each fragment, this method firstly defines discrimination and uniqueness for local fragment, and builds an automatic pre-selection of useful fragments for tracking. Then, a Harris-SIFT filter is used to choose the current valid fragments, excluding occluded or highly deformed fragments. Based on those valid fragments, fragment-based color histogram provides a structured and effective description for the object. Finally, the object is tracked using a valid fragment template combining the displacement constraint and similarity of each valid fragment. The object template is updated by fusing feature similarity and valid fragments, which is scale-adaptive and robust to partial occlusion. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is accurate and robust in challenging scenarios.

  11. Model-reference robust tuning of PID controllers

    CERN Document Server

    Alfaro, Victor M

    2016-01-01

    This book presents a unified methodology for the design of PID controllers that encompasses the wide range of different dynamics to be found in industrial processes. This is extended to provide a coherent way of dealing with the tuning of PID controllers. The particular method at the core of the book is the so-called model-reference robust tuning (MoReRT), developed by the authors. MoReRT constitutes a novel and powerful way of thinking of a robust design and taking into account the usual design trade-offs encountered in any control design problem. The book starts by presenting the different two-degree-of-freedom PID control algorithm variations and their conversion relations as well as the indexes used for performance, robustness and fragility evaluation:the bases of the proposed model. Secondly, the MoReRT design methodology and normalized controlled process models and controllers used in the design are described in order to facilitate the formulation of the different design problems and subsequent derivati...

  12. Robustness Evaluation of Timber Structures with Ductile Behaviour

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kirkegaard, Poul Henning; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard; Cizmar, D.

    2009-01-01

    Robustness of structural systems has received a renewed interest resulting from the more frequent use of advanced types of structures with limited redundancy and serious consequences in the case of failure.......Robustness of structural systems has received a renewed interest resulting from the more frequent use of advanced types of structures with limited redundancy and serious consequences in the case of failure....

  13. Robustness Analysis of a Wide-Span Timber Structure with Ductile Behaviour

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kirkegaard, Poul Henning; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard; Cizmar, D.

    2010-01-01

    This paper considers robustness evaluation of a wide span timber truss structure where the ductile behavior is taken into account. The robustness analysis is based on a structural reliability framework used on a simplified mechanical system modelling a timber truss system. A measure of ductile...... behaviour is introduced and for different values of this measure the robustness indices are estimated. The results indicate that the robustness of a timber truss system can be increased by taking the ductile behavior into....

  14. Robust Optimization of Fourth Party Logistics Network Design under Disruptions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jia Li

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The Fourth Party Logistics (4PL network faces disruptions of various sorts under the dynamic and complex environment. In order to explore the robustness of the network, the 4PL network design with consideration of random disruptions is studied. The purpose of the research is to construct a 4PL network that can provide satisfactory service to customers at a lower cost when disruptions strike. Based on the definition of β-robustness, a robust optimization model of 4PL network design under disruptions is established. Based on the NP-hard characteristic of the problem, the artificial fish swarm algorithm (AFSA and the genetic algorithm (GA are developed. The effectiveness of the algorithms is tested and compared by simulation examples. By comparing the optimal solutions of the 4PL network for different robustness level, it is indicated that the robust optimization model can evade the market risks effectively and save the cost in the maximum limit when it is applied to 4PL network design.

  15. Robust estimation for partially linear models with large-dimensional covariates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, LiPing; Li, RunZe; Cui, HengJian

    2013-10-01

    We are concerned with robust estimation procedures to estimate the parameters in partially linear models with large-dimensional covariates. To enhance the interpretability, we suggest implementing a noncon-cave regularization method in the robust estimation procedure to select important covariates from the linear component. We establish the consistency for both the linear and the nonlinear components when the covariate dimension diverges at the rate of [Formula: see text], where n is the sample size. We show that the robust estimate of linear component performs asymptotically as well as its oracle counterpart which assumes the baseline function and the unimportant covariates were known a priori. With a consistent estimator of the linear component, we estimate the nonparametric component by a robust local linear regression. It is proved that the robust estimate of nonlinear component performs asymptotically as well as if the linear component were known in advance. Comprehensive simulation studies are carried out and an application is presented to examine the finite-sample performance of the proposed procedures.

  16. A kriging metamodel-assisted robust optimization method based on a reverse model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Hui; Zhou, Qi; Liu, Congwei; Zhou, Taotao

    2018-02-01

    The goal of robust optimization methods is to obtain a solution that is both optimum and relatively insensitive to uncertainty factors. Most existing robust optimization approaches use outer-inner nested optimization structures where a large amount of computational effort is required because the robustness of each candidate solution delivered from the outer level should be evaluated in the inner level. In this article, a kriging metamodel-assisted robust optimization method based on a reverse model (K-RMRO) is first proposed, in which the nested optimization structure is reduced into a single-loop optimization structure to ease the computational burden. Ignoring the interpolation uncertainties from kriging, K-RMRO may yield non-robust optima. Hence, an improved kriging-assisted robust optimization method based on a reverse model (IK-RMRO) is presented to take the interpolation uncertainty of kriging metamodel into consideration. In IK-RMRO, an objective switching criterion is introduced to determine whether the inner level robust optimization or the kriging metamodel replacement should be used to evaluate the robustness of design alternatives. The proposed criterion is developed according to whether or not the robust status of the individual can be changed because of the interpolation uncertainties from the kriging metamodel. Numerical and engineering cases are used to demonstrate the applicability and efficiency of the proposed approach.

  17. Synthesis of fixed-architecture, robust H 2 and H ∞ controllers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Collins Jr. Emmanuel G.

    2000-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper discusses and compares the synthesis of fixed-architecture controllers that guarantee either robust H 2 or H ∞ performance. The synthesis is accomplished by solving a Riccati equation feasibility problem resulting from mixed structured singular value theory with Popov multipliers. Whereas the algorithm for robust H 2 performance had been previously implemented, a major contribution described in this paper is the implementation of the much more complex algorithm for robust H ∞ performance. Both robust H 2 and H ∞ , controllers are designed for a benchmark problem and a comparison is made between the resulting controllers and control algorithms. It is found that the numerical algorithm for robust H ∞ performance is much more computationally intensive than that for robust H 2 performance. Both controllers are found to have smaller bandwidth, lower control authority and to be less conservative than controllers obtained using complex structured singular value synthesis

  18. Robust, Causal, and Incremental Approaches to Investigating Linguistic Adaptation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roberts, Seán G.

    2018-01-01

    This paper discusses the maximum robustness approach for studying cases of adaptation in language. We live in an age where we have more data on more languages than ever before, and more data to link it with from other domains. This should make it easier to test hypotheses involving adaptation, and also to spot new patterns that might be explained by adaptation. However, there is not much discussion of the overall approach to research in this area. There are outstanding questions about how to formalize theories, what the criteria are for directing research and how to integrate results from different methods into a clear assessment of a hypothesis. This paper addresses some of those issues by suggesting an approach which is causal, incremental and robust. It illustrates the approach with reference to a recent claim that dry environments select against the use of precise contrasts in pitch. Study 1 replicates a previous analysis of the link between humidity and lexical tone with an alternative dataset and finds that it is not robust. Study 2 performs an analysis with a continuous measure of tone and finds no significant correlation. Study 3 addresses a more recent analysis of the link between humidity and vowel use and finds that it is robust, though the effect size is small and the robustness of the measurement of vowel use is low. Methodological robustness of the general theory is addressed by suggesting additional approaches including iterated learning, a historical case study, corpus studies, and studying individual speech. PMID:29515487

  19. Enhancing the Robustness of the Microcavity Coupling System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yan Ying-Zhan; Zhang Wen-Dong; Xiong Ji-Jun; Ji Zhe; Yan Shu-Bin; Liu Jun; Xue Chen-Yang

    2011-01-01

    A novel method to enhance the robustness of the microcavity coupling system (MCS) is presented by encapsulating and solidifying the MCS with a low refractive index (RI) curable UV polymer. The encapsulating process is illustrated in detail for a typical microsphere with a radius of R about 240μm. Three differences of the resonant characteristics before and after the package are observed and analyzed. The first two differences refer to the enhancement of the coupling strength and the shift of the resonant spectrum to the longer wavelength, which are both mainly because of the microsphere surrounding RI variation. Another difference is the quality factor (Q-factor) which decreases from 7.8×10 7 to 8.7×10 6 after the package due to the polymer absorption. Moreover, rotation testing experiments have been carried out to verify the robustness of the package MCS. Experimental results demonstrate that the packaged MCR has much better robust performance than the un-package sample. The enhancement of the robustness greatly promotes the microcavity research from fundamental investigations to application fields. (fundamental areas of phenomenology(including applications))

  20. Muscle Synergy-Driven Robust Motion Control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Min, Kyuengbo; Iwamoto, Masami; Kakei, Shinji; Kimpara, Hideyuki

    2018-04-01

    Humans are able to robustly maintain desired motion and posture under dynamically changing circumstances, including novel conditions. To accomplish this, the brain needs to optimize the synergistic control between muscles against external dynamic factors. However, previous related studies have usually simplified the control of multiple muscles using two opposing muscles, which are minimum actuators to simulate linear feedback control. As a result, they have been unable to analyze how muscle synergy contributes to motion control robustness in a biological system. To address this issue, we considered a new muscle synergy concept used to optimize the synergy between muscle units against external dynamic conditions, including novel conditions. We propose that two main muscle control policies synergistically control muscle units to maintain the desired motion against external dynamic conditions. Our assumption is based on biological evidence regarding the control of multiple muscles via the corticospinal tract. One of the policies is the group control policy (GCP), which is used to control muscle group units classified based on functional similarities in joint control. This policy is used to effectively resist external dynamic circumstances, such as disturbances. The individual control policy (ICP) assists the GCP in precisely controlling motion by controlling individual muscle units. To validate this hypothesis, we simulated the reinforcement of the synergistic actions of the two control policies during the reinforcement learning of feedback motion control. Using this learning paradigm, the two control policies were synergistically combined to result in robust feedback control under novel transient and sustained disturbances that did not involve learning. Further, by comparing our data to experimental data generated by human subjects under the same conditions as those of the simulation, we showed that the proposed synergy concept may be used to analyze muscle synergy

  1. Timing robustness in the budding and fission yeast cell cycles.

    KAUST Repository

    Mangla, Karan

    2010-02-01

    Robustness of biological models has emerged as an important principle in systems biology. Many past analyses of Boolean models update all pending changes in signals simultaneously (i.e., synchronously), making it impossible to consider robustness to variations in timing that result from noise and different environmental conditions. We checked previously published mathematical models of the cell cycles of budding and fission yeast for robustness to timing variations by constructing Boolean models and analyzing them using model-checking software for the property of speed independence. Surprisingly, the models are nearly, but not totally, speed-independent. In some cases, examination of timing problems discovered in the analysis exposes apparent inaccuracies in the model. Biologically justified revisions to the model eliminate the timing problems. Furthermore, in silico random mutations in the regulatory interactions of a speed-independent Boolean model are shown to be unlikely to preserve speed independence, even in models that are otherwise functional, providing evidence for selection pressure to maintain timing robustness. Multiple cell cycle models exhibit strong robustness to timing variation, apparently due to evolutionary pressure. Thus, timing robustness can be a basis for generating testable hypotheses and can focus attention on aspects of a model that may need refinement.

  2. Short-Term Robustness of Production Management Systems : New Methodology

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kleijnen, J.P.C.; Gaury, E.G.A.

    2000-01-01

    This paper investigates the short-term robustness of production planning and control systems. This robustness is defined here as the systems ability to maintain short-term service probabilities (i.e., the probability that the fill rate remains within a prespecified range), in a variety of

  3. Optimal Robust Fault Detection for Linear Discrete Time Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nike Liu

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper considers robust fault-detection problems for linear discrete time systems. It is shown that the optimal robust detection filters for several well-recognized robust fault-detection problems, such as ℋ−/ℋ∞, ℋ2/ℋ∞, and ℋ∞/ℋ∞ problems, are the same and can be obtained by solving a standard algebraic Riccati equation. Optimal filters are also derived for many other optimization criteria and it is shown that some well-studied and seeming-sensible optimization criteria for fault-detection filter design could lead to (optimal but useless fault-detection filters.

  4. Robustness of the ATLAS pixel clustering neural network algorithm

    CERN Document Server

    AUTHOR|(INSPIRE)INSPIRE-00407780; The ATLAS collaboration

    2016-01-01

    Proton-proton collisions at the energy frontier puts strong constraints on track reconstruction algorithms. In the ATLAS track reconstruction algorithm, an artificial neural network is utilised to identify and split clusters of neighbouring read-out elements in the ATLAS pixel detector created by multiple charged particles. The robustness of the neural network algorithm is presented, probing its sensitivity to uncertainties in the detector conditions. The robustness is studied by evaluating the stability of the algorithm's performance under a range of variations in the inputs to the neural networks. Within reasonable variation magnitudes, the neural networks prove to be robust to most variation types.

  5. Environmental Research Translation: Enhancing Interactions with Communities at Contaminated Sites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramirez-Andreotta, Monica D.; Brusseau, Mark L.; Artiola, Janick F.; Maier, Raina M.; Gandolfi, A. Jay

    2014-01-01

    The characterization and remediation of contaminated sites are complex endeavors fraught with numerous challenges. One particular challenge that is receiving increased attention is the development and encouragement of full participation by communities and community members affected by a given site in all facets of decision-making. Many disciplines have been grappling with the challenges associated with environmental and risk communication, public participation in environmental data generation, and decision-making and increasing community capacity. The concepts and methods developed by these disciplines are reviewed, with a focus on their relevance to the specific dynamics associated with environmental contamination sites. The contributions of these disciplines are then synthesized and integrated to help develop Environmental Research Translation (ERT), a proposed framework for environmental scientists to promote interaction and communication among involved parties at contaminated sites. This holistic approach is rooted in public participation approaches to science, which includes: a transdisciplinary team, effective collaboration, information transfer, public participation in environmental projects, and a cultural model of risk communication. Although there are challenges associated with the implementation of ERT, it is anticipated that application of this proposed translational science method could promote more robust community participation at contaminated sites. PMID:25173762

  6. Environmental Research Translation: Enhancing Interactions with Communities at Contaminated Sites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramirez-Andreotta, M.; Brusseau, M. L. L.; Artiola, J. F.; Maier, R. M.; Gandolfi, A. J.

    2015-12-01

    The characterization and remediation of contaminated sites are complex endeavors fraught with numerous challenges. One particular challenge that is receiving increased attention is the development and encouragement of full participation by communities and community members affected by a given site in all facets of decision-making. Many disciplines have been grappling with the challenges associated with environmental and risk communication, public participation in environmental data generation and decision-making, and increasing community capacity. The concepts and methods developed by these disciplines are reviewed, with a focus on their relevance to the specific dynamics associated with contaminated sites. The contributions of these disciplines are then synthesized and integrated to help develop Environmental Research Translation (ERT), a proposed framework for environmental scientists to promote interaction and communication among involved parties at contaminated sites. This holistic approach is rooted in public participation approaches to science, which includes: a transdisciplinary team, effective collaboration, information transfer, public participation in environmental projects, and a cultural model of risk communication. Although there are challenges associated with the implementation of ERT, it is anticipated that application of this proposed translational science method could promote more robust community participation at contaminated sites.

  7. Characterizing and predicting the robustness of power-law networks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    LaRocca, Sarah; Guikema, Seth D.

    2015-01-01

    Power-law networks such as the Internet, terrorist cells, species relationships, and cellular metabolic interactions are susceptible to node failures, yet maintaining network connectivity is essential for network functionality. Disconnection of the network leads to fragmentation and, in some cases, collapse of the underlying system. However, the influences of the topology of networks on their ability to withstand node failures are poorly understood. Based on a study of the response of 2000 randomly-generated power-law networks to node failures, we find that networks with higher nodal degree and clustering coefficient, lower betweenness centrality, and lower variability in path length and clustering coefficient maintain their cohesion better during such events. We also find that network robustness, i.e., the ability to withstand node failures, can be accurately predicted a priori for power-law networks across many fields. These results provide a basis for designing new, more robust networks, improving the robustness of existing networks such as the Internet and cellular metabolic pathways, and efficiently degrading networks such as terrorist cells. - Highlights: • Examine relationship between network topology and robustness to failures. • Relationship is statistically significant for scale-free networks. • Use statistical models to estimate robustness to failures for real-world networks

  8. Robust small area prediction for counts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tzavidis, Nikos; Ranalli, M Giovanna; Salvati, Nicola; Dreassi, Emanuela; Chambers, Ray

    2015-06-01

    A new semiparametric approach to model-based small area prediction for counts is proposed and used for estimating the average number of visits to physicians for Health Districts in Central Italy. The proposed small area predictor can be viewed as an outlier robust alternative to the more commonly used empirical plug-in predictor that is based on a Poisson generalized linear mixed model with Gaussian random effects. Results from the real data application and from a simulation experiment confirm that the proposed small area predictor has good robustness properties and in some cases can be more efficient than alternative small area approaches. © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

  9. Robustness and modular structure in networks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bagrow, James P.; Lehmann, Sune; Ahn, Yong-Yeol

    2015-01-01

    -12]. Many complex systems, from power grids and the Internet to the brain and society [13-15], can be modeled using modular networks comprised of small, densely connected groups of nodes [16, 17]. These modules often overlap, with network elements belonging to multiple modules [18, 19]. Yet existing work...... on robustness has not considered the role of overlapping, modular structure. Here we study the robustness of these systems to the failure of elements. We show analytically and empirically that it is possible for the modules themselves to become uncoupled or non-overlapping well before the network disintegrates....... If overlapping modular organization plays a role in overall functionality, networks may be far more vulnerable than predicted by conventional percolation theory....

  10. Theoretical Framework for Robustness Evaluation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    2011-01-01

    This paper presents a theoretical framework for evaluation of robustness of structural systems, incl. bridges and buildings. Typically modern structural design codes require that ‘the consequence of damages to structures should not be disproportional to the causes of the damages’. However, althou...

  11. Robust distributed cognitive relay beamforming

    KAUST Repository

    Pandarakkottilil, Ubaidulla; Aissa, Sonia

    2012-01-01

    design takes into account a parameter of the error in the channel state information (CSI) to render the performance of the beamformer robust in the presence of imperfect CSI. Though the original problem is non-convex, we show that the proposed design can

  12. Exploration of robust operating conditions in inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tromp, John W.; Pomares, Mario; Alvarez-Prieto, Manuel; Cole, Amanda; Ying Hai; Salin, Eric D.

    2003-01-01

    'Robust' conditions, as defined by Mermet and co-workers for inductively coupled plasma (ICP)-atomic emission spectrometry, minimize matrix effects on analyte signals, and are obtained by increasing power and reducing nebulizer gas flow. In ICP-mass spectrometry (MS), it is known that reduced nebulizer gas flow usually leads to more robust conditions such that matrix effects are reduced. In this work, robust conditions for ICP-MS have been determined by optimizing for accuracy in the determination of analytes in a multi-element solution with various interferents (Al, Ba, Cs, K, Na), by varying power, nebulizer gas flow, sample introduction rate and ion lens voltage. The goal of the work was to determine which operating parameters were the most important in reducing matrix effects, and whether different interferents yielded the same robust conditions. Reduction in nebulizer gas flow and in sample input rate led to a significantly decreased interference, while an increase in power seemed to have a lesser effect. Once the other parameters had been adjusted to their robust values, there was no additional improvement in accuracy attainable by adjusting the ion lens voltage. The robust conditions were universal, since, for all the interferents and analytes studied, the optimum was found at the same operating conditions. One drawback to the use of robust conditions was the slightly reduced sensitivity; however, in the context of 'intelligent' instruments, the concept of 'robust conditions' is useful in many cases

  13. Highly Robust Statistical Methods in Medical Image Analysis

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Kalina, Jan

    2012-01-01

    Roč. 32, č. 2 (2012), s. 3-16 ISSN 0208-5216 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) 1M06014 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10300504 Keywords : robust statistics * classification * faces * robust image analysis * forensic science Subject RIV: BB - Applied Statistics, Operational Research Impact factor: 0.208, year: 2012 http://www.ibib.waw.pl/bbe/bbefulltext/BBE_32_2_003_FT.pdf

  14. Robust power spectral estimation for EEG data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Melman, Tamar; Victor, Jonathan D

    2016-08-01

    Typical electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings often contain substantial artifact. These artifacts, often large and intermittent, can interfere with quantification of the EEG via its power spectrum. To reduce the impact of artifact, EEG records are typically cleaned by a preprocessing stage that removes individual segments or components of the recording. However, such preprocessing can introduce bias, discard available signal, and be labor-intensive. With this motivation, we present a method that uses robust statistics to reduce dependence on preprocessing by minimizing the effect of large intermittent outliers on the spectral estimates. Using the multitaper method (Thomson, 1982) as a starting point, we replaced the final step of the standard power spectrum calculation with a quantile-based estimator, and the Jackknife approach to confidence intervals with a Bayesian approach. The method is implemented in provided MATLAB modules, which extend the widely used Chronux toolbox. Using both simulated and human data, we show that in the presence of large intermittent outliers, the robust method produces improved estimates of the power spectrum, and that the Bayesian confidence intervals yield close-to-veridical coverage factors. The robust method, as compared to the standard method, is less affected by artifact: inclusion of outliers produces fewer changes in the shape of the power spectrum as well as in the coverage factor. In the presence of large intermittent outliers, the robust method can reduce dependence on data preprocessing as compared to standard methods of spectral estimation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Robust Decentralized Formation Flight Control

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhao Weihua

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Motivated by the idea of multiplexed model predictive control (MMPC, this paper introduces a new framework for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs formation flight and coordination. Formulated using MMPC approach, the whole centralized formation flight system is considered as a linear periodic system with control inputs of each UAV subsystem as its periodic inputs. Divided into decentralized subsystems, the whole formation flight system is guaranteed stable if proper terminal cost and terminal constraints are added to each decentralized MPC formulation of the UAV subsystem. The decentralized robust MPC formulation for each UAV subsystem with bounded input disturbances and model uncertainties is also presented. Furthermore, an obstacle avoidance control scheme for any shape and size of obstacles, including the nonapriorily known ones, is integrated under the unified MPC framework. The results from simulations demonstrate that the proposed framework can successfully achieve robust collision-free formation flights.

  16. On the possible role of robustness in the evolution of infectious diseases

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ogbunugafor, C. Brandon; Pease, James B.; Turner, Paul E.

    2010-06-01

    Robustness describes the capacity for a biological system to remain canalized despite perturbation. Genetic robustness affords maintenance of phenotype despite mutational input, necessarily involving the role of epistasis. Environmental robustness is phenotypic constancy in the face of environmental variation, where epistasis may be uninvolved. Here we discuss genetic and environmental robustness, from the standpoint of infectious disease evolution, and suggest that robustness may be a unifying principle for understanding how different disease agents evolve. We focus especially on viruses with RNA genomes due to their importance in the evolution of emerging diseases and as model systems to test robustness theory. We present new data on adaptive constraints for a model RNA virus challenged to evolve in response to UV radiation. We also draw attention to other infectious disease systems where robustness theory may prove useful for bridging evolutionary biology and biomedicine, especially the evolution of antibiotic resistance in bacteria, immune evasion by influenza, and malaria parasite infections.

  17. Including robustness in multi-criteria optimization for intensity-modulated proton therapy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Wei; Unkelbach, Jan; Trofimov, Alexei; Madden, Thomas; Kooy, Hanne; Bortfeld, Thomas; Craft, David

    2012-02-01

    We present a method to include robustness in a multi-criteria optimization (MCO) framework for intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT). The approach allows one to simultaneously explore the trade-off between different objectives as well as the trade-off between robustness and nominal plan quality. In MCO, a database of plans each emphasizing different treatment planning objectives, is pre-computed to approximate the Pareto surface. An IMPT treatment plan that strikes the best balance between the different objectives can be selected by navigating on the Pareto surface. In our approach, robustness is integrated into MCO by adding robustified objectives and constraints to the MCO problem. Uncertainties (or errors) of the robust problem are modeled by pre-calculated dose-influence matrices for a nominal scenario and a number of pre-defined error scenarios (shifted patient positions, proton beam undershoot and overshoot). Objectives and constraints can be defined for the nominal scenario, thus characterizing nominal plan quality. A robustified objective represents the worst objective function value that can be realized for any of the error scenarios and thus provides a measure of plan robustness. The optimization method is based on a linear projection solver and is capable of handling large problem sizes resulting from a fine dose grid resolution, many scenarios, and a large number of proton pencil beams. A base-of-skull case is used to demonstrate the robust optimization method. It is demonstrated that the robust optimization method reduces the sensitivity of the treatment plan to setup and range errors to a degree that is not achieved by a safety margin approach. A chordoma case is analyzed in more detail to demonstrate the involved trade-offs between target underdose and brainstem sparing as well as robustness and nominal plan quality. The latter illustrates the advantage of MCO in the context of robust planning. For all cases examined, the robust optimization for

  18. Sparse alignment for robust tensor learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lai, Zhihui; Wong, Wai Keung; Xu, Yong; Zhao, Cairong; Sun, Mingming

    2014-10-01

    Multilinear/tensor extensions of manifold learning based algorithms have been widely used in computer vision and pattern recognition. This paper first provides a systematic analysis of the multilinear extensions for the most popular methods by using alignment techniques, thereby obtaining a general tensor alignment framework. From this framework, it is easy to show that the manifold learning based tensor learning methods are intrinsically different from the alignment techniques. Based on the alignment framework, a robust tensor learning method called sparse tensor alignment (STA) is then proposed for unsupervised tensor feature extraction. Different from the existing tensor learning methods, L1- and L2-norms are introduced to enhance the robustness in the alignment step of the STA. The advantage of the proposed technique is that the difficulty in selecting the size of the local neighborhood can be avoided in the manifold learning based tensor feature extraction algorithms. Although STA is an unsupervised learning method, the sparsity encodes the discriminative information in the alignment step and provides the robustness of STA. Extensive experiments on the well-known image databases as well as action and hand gesture databases by encoding object images as tensors demonstrate that the proposed STA algorithm gives the most competitive performance when compared with the tensor-based unsupervised learning methods.

  19. Rainfall frequency analysis for ungauged sites using satellite precipitation products

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gado, Tamer A.; Hsu, Kuolin; Sorooshian, Soroosh

    2017-11-01

    The occurrence of extreme rainfall events and their impacts on hydrologic systems and society are critical considerations in the design and management of a large number of water resources projects. As precipitation records are often limited or unavailable at many sites, it is essential to develop better methods for regional estimation of extreme rainfall at these partially-gauged or ungauged sites. In this study, an innovative method for regional rainfall frequency analysis for ungauged sites is presented. The new method (hereafter, this is called the RRFA-S) is based on corrected annual maximum series obtained from a satellite precipitation product (e.g., PERSIANN-CDR). The probability matching method (PMM) is used here for bias correction to match the CDF of satellite-based precipitation data with the gauged data. The RRFA-S method was assessed through a comparative study with the traditional index flood method using the available annual maximum series of daily rainfall in two different regions in USA (11 sites in Colorado and 18 sites in California). The leave-one-out cross-validation technique was used to represent the ungauged site condition. Results of this numerical application have found that the quantile estimates obtained from the new approach are more accurate and more robust than those given by the traditional index flood method.

  20. On the Probabilistic Characterization of Robustness and Resilience

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Faber, Michael Havbro; Qin, J.; Miraglia, Simona

    2017-01-01

    Over the last decade significant research efforts have been devoted to the probabilistic modeling and analysis of system characteristics. Especially performance characteristics of systems subjected to random disturbances, such as robustness and resilience have been in the focus of these efforts...... in the modeling of robustness and resilience in the research areas of natural disaster risk management, socio-ecological systems and social systems and we propose a generic decision analysis framework for the modeling and analysis of systems across application areas. The proposed framework extends the concept...... of direct and indirect consequences and associated risks in probabilistic systems modeling formulated by the Joint Committee on Structural Safety (JCSS) to facilitate the modeling and analysis of resilience in addition to robustness and vulnerability. Moreover, based on recent insights in the modeling...

  1. Critical cooperation range to improve spatial network robustness.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vitor H P Louzada

    Full Text Available A robust worldwide air-transportation network (WAN is one that minimizes the number of stranded passengers under a sequence of airport closures. Building on top of this realistic example, here we address how spatial network robustness can profit from cooperation between local actors. We swap a series of links within a certain distance, a cooperation range, while following typical constraints of spatially embedded networks. We find that the network robustness is only improved above a critical cooperation range. Such improvement can be described in the framework of a continuum transition, where the critical exponents depend on the spatial correlation of connected nodes. For the WAN we show that, except for Australia, all continental networks fall into the same universality class. Practical implications of this result are also discussed.

  2. Robust Parameter and Signal Estimation in Induction Motors

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Børsting, H.

    This thesis deals with theories and methods for robust parameter and signal estimation in induction motors. The project originates in industrial interests concerning sensor-less control of electrical drives. During the work, some general problems concerning estimation of signals and parameters...... in nonlinear systems, have been exposed. The main objectives of this project are: - analysis and application of theories and methods for robust estimation of parameters in a model structure, obtained from knowledge of the physics of the induction motor. - analysis and application of theories and methods...... for robust estimation of the rotor speed and driving torque of the induction motor based only on measurements of stator voltages and currents. Only contimuous-time models have been used, which means that physical related signals and parameters are estimated directly and not indirectly by some discrete...

  3. Robustness of multiparty nonlocality to local decoherence

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jang, Sung Soon; Cheong, Yong Wook; Kim, Jaewan; Lee, Hai-Woong

    2006-01-01

    We investigate the robustness of multiparty nonlocality under local decoherence, acting independently and equally on each subsystem. To be specific, we consider an N-qubit Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state under a depolarization, dephasing, or dissipation channel, and examine nonlocality by testing violation of the Mermin-Klyshko inequality, which is one of Bell's inequalities for multiqubit systems. The results show that the robustness of nonlocality increases with the number of qubits, and that the nonlocality of an N-qubit GHZ state with even N is extremely persistent against dephasing

  4. Robust Droop Control of Grid-Connected Inverters

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Elkayam, Moria; Kuperman, Alon; Guerrero, Josep M.

    2016-01-01

    The use of distributed generation in microgrid systems is becoming a popular way to provide a reliable source of electricity to critical loads. Droop control techniques are used in power systems for the synchronization of grid-connected inverters by local measurements of active and reactive powers....... Despite the benefits of distributed generation, the drawback is that large grid-side impedance steps can cause a system to become unstable. A robust control method based on disturbance observer is proposed in this paper. When the proposed robust controller is utilized, closed loop performance remains...

  5. Introduction to Robust Estimation and Hypothesis Testing

    CERN Document Server

    Wilcox, Rand R

    2012-01-01

    This revised book provides a thorough explanation of the foundation of robust methods, incorporating the latest updates on R and S-Plus, robust ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) and regression. It guides advanced students and other professionals through the basic strategies used for developing practical solutions to problems, and provides a brief background on the foundations of modern methods, placing the new methods in historical context. Author Rand Wilcox includes chapter exercises and many real-world examples that illustrate how various methods perform in different situations.Introduction to R

  6. Robust Satisficing Decision Making for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Complex Missions under Severe Uncertainty.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaoting Ji

    Full Text Available This paper presents a robust satisficing decision-making method for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs executing complex missions in an uncertain environment. Motivated by the info-gap decision theory, we formulate this problem as a novel robust satisficing optimization problem, of which the objective is to maximize the robustness while satisfying some desired mission requirements. Specifically, a new info-gap based Markov Decision Process (IMDP is constructed to abstract the uncertain UAV system and specify the complex mission requirements with the Linear Temporal Logic (LTL. A robust satisficing policy is obtained to maximize the robustness to the uncertain IMDP while ensuring a desired probability of satisfying the LTL specifications. To this end, we propose a two-stage robust satisficing solution strategy which consists of the construction of a product IMDP and the generation of a robust satisficing policy. In the first stage, a product IMDP is constructed by combining the IMDP with an automaton representing the LTL specifications. In the second, an algorithm based on robust dynamic programming is proposed to generate a robust satisficing policy, while an associated robustness evaluation algorithm is presented to evaluate the robustness. Finally, through Monte Carlo simulation, the effectiveness of our algorithms is demonstrated on an UAV search mission under severe uncertainty so that the resulting policy can maximize the robustness while reaching the desired performance level. Furthermore, by comparing the proposed method with other robust decision-making methods, it can be concluded that our policy can tolerate higher uncertainty so that the desired performance level can be guaranteed, which indicates that the proposed method is much more effective in real applications.

  7. Robust efficient video fingerprinting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Puri, Manika; Lubin, Jeffrey

    2009-02-01

    We have developed a video fingerprinting system with robustness and efficiency as the primary and secondary design criteria. In extensive testing, the system has shown robustness to cropping, letter-boxing, sub-titling, blur, drastic compression, frame rate changes, size changes and color changes, as well as to the geometric distortions often associated with camcorder capture in cinema settings. Efficiency is afforded by a novel two-stage detection process in which a fast matching process first computes a number of likely candidates, which are then passed to a second slower process that computes the overall best match with minimal false alarm probability. One key component of the algorithm is a maximally stable volume computation - a three-dimensional generalization of maximally stable extremal regions - that provides a content-centric coordinate system for subsequent hash function computation, independent of any affine transformation or extensive cropping. Other key features include an efficient bin-based polling strategy for initial candidate selection, and a final SIFT feature-based computation for final verification. We describe the algorithm and its performance, and then discuss additional modifications that can provide further improvement to efficiency and accuracy.

  8. Multifidelity Robust Aeroelastic Design, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Nielsen Engineering & Research (NEAR) proposes a new method to generate mathematical models of wind-tunnel models and flight vehicles for robust aeroelastic...

  9. Design and implementation of robust controllers for a gait trainer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, F C; Yu, C H; Chou, T Y

    2009-08-01

    This paper applies robust algorithms to control an active gait trainer for children with walking disabilities. Compared with traditional rehabilitation procedures, in which two or three trainers are required to assist the patient, a motor-driven mechanism was constructed to improve the efficiency of the procedures. First, a six-bar mechanism was designed and constructed to mimic the trajectory of children's ankles in walking. Second, system identification techniques were applied to obtain system transfer functions at different operating points by experiments. Third, robust control algorithms were used to design Hinfinity robust controllers for the system. Finally, the designed controllers were implemented to verify experimentally the system performance. From the results, the proposed robust control strategies are shown to be effective.

  10. Essays on robust asset pricing

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Horváth, Ferenc

    2017-01-01

    The central concept of this doctoral dissertation is robustness. I analyze how model and parameter uncertainty affect financial decisions of investors and fund managers, and what their equilibrium consequences are. Chapter 1 gives an overview of the most important concepts and methodologies used in

  11. Robust visual hashing via ICA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fournel, Thierry; Coltuc, Daniela

    2010-01-01

    Designed to maximize information transmission in the presence of noise, independent component analysis (ICA) could appear in certain circumstances as a statistics-based tool for robust visual hashing. Several ICA-based scenarios can attempt to reach this goal. A first one is here considered.

  12. Sparse and Robust Factor Modelling

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    C. Croux (Christophe); P. Exterkate (Peter)

    2011-01-01

    textabstractFactor construction methods are widely used to summarize a large panel of variables by means of a relatively small number of representative factors. We propose a novel factor construction procedure that enjoys the properties of robustness to outliers and of sparsity; that is, having

  13. Novel results for global robust stability of delayed neural networks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yucel, Eylem; Arik, Sabri

    2009-01-01

    This paper investigates the global robust convergence properties of continuous-time neural networks with discrete time delays. By employing suitable Lyapunov functionals, some sufficient conditions for the existence, uniqueness and global robust asymptotic stability of the equilibrium point are derived. The conditions can be easily verified as they can be expressed in terms of the network parameters only. Some numerical examples are also given to compare our results with previous robust stability results derived in the literature.

  14. Robust Kernel (Cross-) Covariance Operators in Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space toward Kernel Methods

    OpenAIRE

    Alam, Md. Ashad; Fukumizu, Kenji; Wang, Yu-Ping

    2016-01-01

    To the best of our knowledge, there are no general well-founded robust methods for statistical unsupervised learning. Most of the unsupervised methods explicitly or implicitly depend on the kernel covariance operator (kernel CO) or kernel cross-covariance operator (kernel CCO). They are sensitive to contaminated data, even when using bounded positive definite kernels. First, we propose robust kernel covariance operator (robust kernel CO) and robust kernel crosscovariance operator (robust kern...

  15. Depth-weighted robust multivariate regression with application to sparse data

    KAUST Repository

    Dutta, Subhajit; Genton, Marc G.

    2017-01-01

    A robust method for multivariate regression is developed based on robust estimators of the joint location and scatter matrix of the explanatory and response variables using the notion of data depth. The multivariate regression estimator possesses desirable affine equivariance properties, achieves the best breakdown point of any affine equivariant estimator, and has an influence function which is bounded in both the response as well as the predictor variable. To increase the efficiency of this estimator, a re-weighted estimator based on robust Mahalanobis distances of the residual vectors is proposed. In practice, the method is more stable than existing methods that are constructed using subsamples of the data. The resulting multivariate regression technique is computationally feasible, and turns out to perform better than several popular robust multivariate regression methods when applied to various simulated data as well as a real benchmark data set. When the data dimension is quite high compared to the sample size it is still possible to use meaningful notions of data depth along with the corresponding depth values to construct a robust estimator in a sparse setting.

  16. Depth-weighted robust multivariate regression with application to sparse data

    KAUST Repository

    Dutta, Subhajit

    2017-04-05

    A robust method for multivariate regression is developed based on robust estimators of the joint location and scatter matrix of the explanatory and response variables using the notion of data depth. The multivariate regression estimator possesses desirable affine equivariance properties, achieves the best breakdown point of any affine equivariant estimator, and has an influence function which is bounded in both the response as well as the predictor variable. To increase the efficiency of this estimator, a re-weighted estimator based on robust Mahalanobis distances of the residual vectors is proposed. In practice, the method is more stable than existing methods that are constructed using subsamples of the data. The resulting multivariate regression technique is computationally feasible, and turns out to perform better than several popular robust multivariate regression methods when applied to various simulated data as well as a real benchmark data set. When the data dimension is quite high compared to the sample size it is still possible to use meaningful notions of data depth along with the corresponding depth values to construct a robust estimator in a sparse setting.

  17. Robust estimation of track parameters in wire chambers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bogdanova, N.B.; Bourilkov, D.T.

    1988-01-01

    The aim of this paper is to compare numerically the possibilities of the least square fit (LSF) and robust methods for modelled and real track data to determine the linear regression parameters of charged particles in wire chambers. It is shown, that Tukey robust estimate is superior to more standard (versions of LSF) methods. The efficiency of the method is illustrated by tables and figures for some important physical characteristics

  18. Landmark memories are more robust when acquired at the nest site than en route: experiments in desert ants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bisch-Knaden, Sonja; Wehner, Rüdiger

    2003-03-01

    Foraging desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis, encounter different sequences of visual landmarks while navigating by path integration. This paper explores the question whether the storage of landmark information depends on the context in which the landmarks are learned during an ant's foraging journey. Two experimental set-ups were designed in which the ants experienced an artificial landmark panorama that was placed either around the nest entrance (nest marks) or along the vector route leading straight towards the feeder (route marks). The two training paradigms resulted in pronounced differences in the storage characteristics of the acquired landmark information: memory traces of nest marks were much more robust against extinction and/or suppression than those of route marks. In functional terms, this result is in accord with the observation that desert ants encounter new route marks during every foraging run but always pass the same landmarks when approaching the nest entrance.

  19. Biocatalytic site- and enantioselective oxidative dearomatization of phenols

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baker Dockrey, Summer A.; Lukowski, April L.; Becker, Marc R.; Narayan, Alison R. H.

    2018-02-01

    The biocatalytic transformations used by chemists are often restricted to simple functional-group interconversions. In contrast, nature has developed complexity-generating biocatalytic reactions within natural product pathways. These sophisticated catalysts are rarely employed by chemists, because the substrate scope, selectivity and robustness of these catalysts are unknown. Our strategy to bridge the gap between the biosynthesis and synthetic chemistry communities leverages the diversity of catalysts available within natural product pathways. Here we show that, starting from a suite of biosynthetic enzymes, catalysts with complementary substrate scope as well as selectivity can be identified. This strategy has been applied to the oxidative dearomatization of phenols, a chemical transformation that rapidly builds molecular complexity from simple starting materials and cannot be accomplished with high selectivity using existing catalytic methods. Using enzymes from biosynthetic pathways, we have successfully developed a method to produce ortho-quinol products with controlled site- and stereoselectivity. Furthermore, we have capitalized on the scalability and robustness of this method in gram-scale reactions as well as multi-enzyme and chemoenzymatic cascades.

  20. Robust entry guidance using linear covariance-based model predictive control

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jianjun Luo

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available For atmospheric entry vehicles, guidance design can be accomplished by solving an optimal issue using optimal control theories. However, traditional design methods generally focus on the nominal performance and do not include considerations of the robustness in the design process. This paper proposes a linear covariance-based model predictive control method for robust entry guidance design. Firstly, linear covariance analysis is employed to directly incorporate the robustness into the guidance design. The closed-loop covariance with the feedback updated control command is initially formulated to provide the expected errors of the nominal state variables in the presence of uncertainties. Then, the closed-loop covariance is innovatively used as a component of the cost function to guarantee the robustness to reduce its sensitivity to uncertainties. After that, the models predictive control is used to solve the optimal problem, and the control commands (bank angles are calculated. Finally, a series of simulations for different missions have been completed to demonstrate the high performance in precision and the robustness with respect to initial perturbations as well as uncertainties in the entry process. The 3σ confidence region results in the presence of uncertainties which show that the robustness of the guidance has been improved, and the errors of the state variables are decreased by approximately 35%.

  1. PhosphoRice: a meta-predictor of rice-specific phosphorylation sites

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Que Shufu

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background As a result of the growing body of protein phosphorylation sites data, the number of phosphoprotein databases is constantly increasing, and dozens of tools are available for predicting protein phosphorylation sites to achieve fast automatic results. However, none of the existing tools has been developed to predict protein phosphorylation sites in rice. Results In this paper, the phosphorylation site predictors, NetPhos 2.0, NetPhosK, Kinasephos, Scansite, Disphos and Predphosphos, were integrated to construct meta-predictors of rice-specific phosphorylation sites using several methods, including unweighted voting, unreduced weighted voting, reduced unweighted voting and weighted voting strategies. PhosphoRice, the meta-predictor produced by using weighted voting strategy with parameters selected by restricted grid search and conditional random search, performed the best at predicting phosphorylation sites in rice. Its Matthew's Correlation Coefficient (MCC and Accuracy (ACC reached to 0.474 and 73.8%, respectively. Compared to the best individual element predictor (Disphos_default, PhosphoRice archieved a significant increase in MCC of 0.071 (P Conclusions PhosphoRice is a powerful tool for predicting unidentified phosphorylation sites in rice. Compared to the existing methods, we found that our tool showed greater robustness in ACC and MCC. PhosphoRice is available to the public at http://bioinformatics.fafu.edu.cn/PhosphoRice.

  2. A Semantics-Based Approach for Business Categorization on Social Networking Sites

    OpenAIRE

    Memon , Atia ,; Zinke , Christian; Meyer , Kyrill

    2017-01-01

    Part 18: Design Science Research in CNs; International audience; As the number and adoption of social networking sites (SNSs) supporting business representation in the form of business pages continues to escalate, more scalable and robust mechanisms for integrating data from different networks in order to serve the special purposes need to be envisaged. An important concern of such SNS data integration is the platform dependencies that different networks impose in collecting, organizing, and ...

  3. Robust optimisation of forest transportation networks: a case study ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Forest transportation costs are the major cost component for many forest product supply chains. In order to minimise these costs, many organisations have turned ... The simulation results are then evaluated for robustness by means of seven robustness performance measures. For our case study, the results show that (1) the ...

  4. A robust nonlinear filter for image restoration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koivunen, V

    1995-01-01

    A class of nonlinear regression filters based on robust estimation theory is introduced. The goal of the filtering is to recover a high-quality image from degraded observations. Models for desired image structures and contaminating processes are employed, but deviations from strict assumptions are allowed since the assumptions on signal and noise are typically only approximately true. The robustness of filters is usually addressed only in a distributional sense, i.e., the actual error distribution deviates from the nominal one. In this paper, the robustness is considered in a broad sense since the outliers may also be due to inappropriate signal model, or there may be more than one statistical population present in the processing window, causing biased estimates. Two filtering algorithms minimizing a least trimmed squares criterion are provided. The design of the filters is simple since no scale parameters or context-dependent threshold values are required. Experimental results using both real and simulated data are presented. The filters effectively attenuate both impulsive and nonimpulsive noise while recovering the signal structure and preserving interesting details.

  5. Interlinked bistable mechanisms generate robust mitotic transitions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hutter, Lukas H; Rata, Scott; Hochegger, Helfrid; Novák, Béla

    2017-10-18

    The transitions between phases of the cell cycle have evolved to be robust and switch-like, which ensures temporal separation of DNA replication, sister chromatid separation, and cell division. Mathematical models describing the biochemical interaction networks of cell cycle regulators attribute these properties to underlying bistable switches, which inherently generate robust, switch-like, and irreversible transitions between states. We have recently presented new mathematical models for two control systems that regulate crucial transitions in the cell cycle: mitotic entry and exit, 1 and the mitotic checkpoint. 2 Each of the two control systems is characterized by two interlinked bistable switches. In the case of mitotic checkpoint control, these switches are mutually activating, whereas in the case of the mitotic entry/exit network, the switches are mutually inhibiting. In this Perspective we describe the qualitative features of these regulatory motifs and show that having two interlinked bistable mechanisms further enhances robustness and irreversibility. We speculate that these network motifs also underlie other cell cycle transitions and cellular transitions between distinct biochemical states.

  6. Hyperspectral Unmixing with Robust Collaborative Sparse Regression

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chang Li

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Recently, sparse unmixing (SU of hyperspectral data has received particular attention for analyzing remote sensing images. However, most SU methods are based on the commonly admitted linear mixing model (LMM, which ignores the possible nonlinear effects (i.e., nonlinearity. In this paper, we propose a new method named robust collaborative sparse regression (RCSR based on the robust LMM (rLMM for hyperspectral unmixing. The rLMM takes the nonlinearity into consideration, and the nonlinearity is merely treated as outlier, which has the underlying sparse property. The RCSR simultaneously takes the collaborative sparse property of the abundance and sparsely distributed additive property of the outlier into consideration, which can be formed as a robust joint sparse regression problem. The inexact augmented Lagrangian method (IALM is used to optimize the proposed RCSR. The qualitative and quantitative experiments on synthetic datasets and real hyperspectral images demonstrate that the proposed RCSR is efficient for solving the hyperspectral SU problem compared with the other four state-of-the-art algorithms.

  7. Robustness Regions for Dichotomous Decisions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vijn, Pieter; Molenaar, Ivo W.

    1981-01-01

    In the case of dichotomous decisions, the total set of all assumptions/specifications for which the decision would have been the same is the robustness region. Inspection of this (data-dependent) region is a form of sensitivity analysis which may lead to improved decision making. (Author/BW)

  8. Closed-Loop and Robust Control of Quantum Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chunlin Chen

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available For most practical quantum control systems, it is important and difficult to attain robustness and reliability due to unavoidable uncertainties in the system dynamics or models. Three kinds of typical approaches (e.g., closed-loop learning control, feedback control, and robust control have been proved to be effective to solve these problems. This work presents a self-contained survey on the closed-loop and robust control of quantum systems, as well as a brief introduction to a selection of basic theories and methods in this research area, to provide interested readers with a general idea for further studies. In the area of closed-loop learning control of quantum systems, we survey and introduce such learning control methods as gradient-based methods, genetic algorithms (GA, and reinforcement learning (RL methods from a unified point of view of exploring the quantum control landscapes. For the feedback control approach, the paper surveys three control strategies including Lyapunov control, measurement-based control, and coherent-feedback control. Then such topics in the field of quantum robust control as H∞ control, sliding mode control, quantum risk-sensitive control, and quantum ensemble control are reviewed. The paper concludes with a perspective of future research directions that are likely to attract more attention.

  9. Robust Control Design for Uncertain Nonlinear Dynamic Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kenny, Sean P.; Crespo, Luis G.; Andrews, Lindsey; Giesy, Daniel P.

    2012-01-01

    Robustness to parametric uncertainty is fundamental to successful control system design and as such it has been at the core of many design methods developed over the decades. Despite its prominence, most of the work on robust control design has focused on linear models and uncertainties that are non-probabilistic in nature. Recently, researchers have acknowledged this disparity and have been developing theory to address a broader class of uncertainties. This paper presents an experimental application of robust control design for a hybrid class of probabilistic and non-probabilistic parametric uncertainties. The experimental apparatus is based upon the classic inverted pendulum on a cart. The physical uncertainty is realized by a known additional lumped mass at an unknown location on the pendulum. This unknown location has the effect of substantially altering the nominal frequency and controllability of the nonlinear system, and in the limit has the capability to make the system neutrally stable and uncontrollable. Another uncertainty to be considered is a direct current motor parameter. The control design objective is to design a controller that satisfies stability, tracking error, control power, and transient behavior requirements for the largest range of parametric uncertainties. This paper presents an overview of the theory behind the robust control design methodology and the experimental results.

  10. Comparative Analysis for Robust Penalized Spline Smoothing Methods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bin Wang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Smoothing noisy data is commonly encountered in engineering domain, and currently robust penalized regression spline models are perceived to be the most promising methods for coping with this issue, due to their flexibilities in capturing the nonlinear trends in the data and effectively alleviating the disturbance from the outliers. Against such a background, this paper conducts a thoroughly comparative analysis of two popular robust smoothing techniques, the M-type estimator and S-estimation for penalized regression splines, both of which are reelaborated starting from their origins, with their derivation process reformulated and the corresponding algorithms reorganized under a unified framework. Performances of these two estimators are thoroughly evaluated from the aspects of fitting accuracy, robustness, and execution time upon the MATLAB platform. Elaborately comparative experiments demonstrate that robust penalized spline smoothing methods possess the capability of resistance to the noise effect compared with the nonrobust penalized LS spline regression method. Furthermore, the M-estimator exerts stable performance only for the observations with moderate perturbation error, whereas the S-estimator behaves fairly well even for heavily contaminated observations, but consuming more execution time. These findings can be served as guidance to the selection of appropriate approach for smoothing the noisy data.

  11. Robust and efficient walking with spring-like legs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rummel, J; Blum, Y; Seyfarth, A, E-mail: juergen.rummel@uni-jena.d, E-mail: andre.seyfarth@uni-jena.d [Lauflabor Locomotion Laboratory, University of Jena, Dornburger Strasse 23, 07743 Jena (Germany)

    2010-12-15

    The development of bipedal walking robots is inspired by human walking. A way of implementing walking could be performed by mimicking human leg dynamics. A fundamental model, representing human leg dynamics during walking and running, is the bipedal spring-mass model which is the basis for this paper. The aim of this study is the identification of leg parameters leading to a compromise between robustness and energy efficiency in walking. It is found that, compared to asymmetric walking, symmetric walking with flatter angles of attack reveals such a compromise. With increasing leg stiffness, energy efficiency increases continuously. However, robustness is the maximum at moderate leg stiffness and decreases slightly with increasing stiffness. Hence, an adjustable leg compliance would be preferred, which is adaptable to the environment. If the ground is even, a high leg stiffness leads to energy efficient walking. However, if external perturbations are expected, e.g. when the robot walks on uneven terrain, the leg should be softer and the angle of attack flatter. In the case of underactuated robots with constant physical springs, the leg stiffness should be larger than k-tilde = 14 in order to use the most robust gait. Soft legs, however, lack in both robustness and efficiency.

  12. Closed-loop and robust control of quantum systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Chunlin; Wang, Lin-Cheng; Wang, Yuanlong

    2013-01-01

    For most practical quantum control systems, it is important and difficult to attain robustness and reliability due to unavoidable uncertainties in the system dynamics or models. Three kinds of typical approaches (e.g., closed-loop learning control, feedback control, and robust control) have been proved to be effective to solve these problems. This work presents a self-contained survey on the closed-loop and robust control of quantum systems, as well as a brief introduction to a selection of basic theories and methods in this research area, to provide interested readers with a general idea for further studies. In the area of closed-loop learning control of quantum systems, we survey and introduce such learning control methods as gradient-based methods, genetic algorithms (GA), and reinforcement learning (RL) methods from a unified point of view of exploring the quantum control landscapes. For the feedback control approach, the paper surveys three control strategies including Lyapunov control, measurement-based control, and coherent-feedback control. Then such topics in the field of quantum robust control as H(∞) control, sliding mode control, quantum risk-sensitive control, and quantum ensemble control are reviewed. The paper concludes with a perspective of future research directions that are likely to attract more attention.

  13. Robust and efficient walking with spring-like legs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rummel, J; Blum, Y; Seyfarth, A

    2010-01-01

    The development of bipedal walking robots is inspired by human walking. A way of implementing walking could be performed by mimicking human leg dynamics. A fundamental model, representing human leg dynamics during walking and running, is the bipedal spring-mass model which is the basis for this paper. The aim of this study is the identification of leg parameters leading to a compromise between robustness and energy efficiency in walking. It is found that, compared to asymmetric walking, symmetric walking with flatter angles of attack reveals such a compromise. With increasing leg stiffness, energy efficiency increases continuously. However, robustness is the maximum at moderate leg stiffness and decreases slightly with increasing stiffness. Hence, an adjustable leg compliance would be preferred, which is adaptable to the environment. If the ground is even, a high leg stiffness leads to energy efficient walking. However, if external perturbations are expected, e.g. when the robot walks on uneven terrain, the leg should be softer and the angle of attack flatter. In the case of underactuated robots with constant physical springs, the leg stiffness should be larger than k-tilde = 14 in order to use the most robust gait. Soft legs, however, lack in both robustness and efficiency.

  14. Robust Watermarking of Video Streams

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. Polyák

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available In the past few years there has been an explosion in the use of digital video data. Many people have personal computers at home, and with the help of the Internet users can easily share video files on their computer. This makes possible the unauthorized use of digital media, and without adequate protection systems the authors and distributors have no means to prevent it.Digital watermarking techniques can help these systems to be more effective by embedding secret data right into the video stream. This makes minor changes in the frames of the video, but these changes are almost imperceptible to the human visual system. The embedded information can involve copyright data, access control etc. A robust watermark is resistant to various distortions of the video, so it cannot be removed without affecting the quality of the host medium. In this paper I propose a video watermarking scheme that fulfills the requirements of a robust watermark. 

  15. Robust blood-glucose control using Mathematica.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kovács, Levente; Paláncz, Béla; Benyó, Balázs; Török, László; Benyó, Zoltán

    2006-01-01

    A robust control design on frequency domain using Mathematica is presented for regularization of glucose level in type I diabetes persons under intensive care. The method originally proposed under Mathematica by Helton and Merino, --now with an improved disturbance rejection constraint inequality--is employed, using a three-state minimal patient model. The robustness of the resulted high-order linear controller is demonstrated by nonlinear closed loop simulation in state-space, in case of standard meal disturbances and is compared with H infinity design implemented with the mu-toolbox of Matlab. The controller designed with model parameters represented the most favorable plant dynamics from the point of view of control purposes, can operate properly even in case of parameter values of the worst-case scenario.

  16. Robust digital controllers for uncertain chaotic systems: A digital redesign approach

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ababneh, Mohammad [Department of Controls, FMC Kongsberg Subsea, FMC Energy Systems, Houston, TX 77067 (United States); Barajas-Ramirez, Juan-Gonzalo [CICESE, Depto. De Electronica y Telecomunicaciones, Ensenada, BC, 22860 (Mexico); Chen Guanrong [Centre for Chaos Control and Synchronization, Department of Electronic Engineering, City University of Hong Kong (China); Shieh, Leang S. [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-4005 (United States)

    2007-03-15

    In this paper, a new and systematic method for designing robust digital controllers for uncertain nonlinear systems with structured uncertainties is presented. In the proposed method, a controller is designed in terms of the optimal linear model representation of the nominal system around each operating point of the trajectory, while the uncertainties are decomposed such that the uncertain nonlinear system can be rewritten as a set of local linear models with disturbed inputs. Applying conventional robust control techniques, continuous-time robust controllers are first designed to eliminate the effects of the uncertainties on the underlying system. Then, a robust digital controller is obtained as the result of a digital redesign of the designed continuous-time robust controller using the state-matching technique. The effectiveness of the proposed controller design method is illustrated through some numerical examples on complex nonlinear systems--chaotic systems.

  17. Robust Model Predictive Control of a Wind Turbine

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mirzaei, Mahmood; Poulsen, Niels Kjølstad; Niemann, Hans Henrik

    2012-01-01

    In this work the problem of robust model predictive control (robust MPC) of a wind turbine in the full load region is considered. A minimax robust MPC approach is used to tackle the problem. Nonlinear dynamics of the wind turbine are derived by combining blade element momentum (BEM) theory...... of the uncertain system is employed and a norm-bounded uncertainty model is used to formulate a minimax model predictive control. The resulting optimization problem is simplified by semidefinite relaxation and the controller obtained is applied on a full complexity, high fidelity wind turbine model. Finally...... and first principle modeling of the turbine flexible structure. Thereafter the nonlinear model is linearized using Taylor series expansion around system operating points. Operating points are determined by effective wind speed and an extended Kalman filter (EKF) is employed to estimate this. In addition...

  18. A Self-embedding Robust Digital Watermarking Algorithm with Blind Detection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gong Yunfeng

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available In order to achieve the perfectly blind detection of robustness watermarking algorithm, a novel self-embedding robust digital watermarking algorithm with blind detection is proposed in this paper. Firstly the original image is divided to not overlap image blocks and then decomposable coefficients are obtained by lifting-based wavelet transform in every image blocks. Secondly the low-frequency coefficients of block images are selected and then approximately represented as a product of a base matrix and a coefficient matrix using NMF. Then the feature vector represent original image is obtained by quantizing coefficient matrix, and finally the adaptive quantization of the robustness watermark is embedded in the low-frequency coefficients of LWT. Experimental results show that the scheme is robust against common signal processing attacks, meanwhile perfect blind detection is achieve.

  19. Robust model predictive control for constrained continuous-time nonlinear systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Tairen; Pan, Yongping; Zhang, Jun; Yu, Haoyong

    2018-02-01

    In this paper, a robust model predictive control (MPC) is designed for a class of constrained continuous-time nonlinear systems with bounded additive disturbances. The robust MPC consists of a nonlinear feedback control and a continuous-time model-based dual-mode MPC. The nonlinear feedback control guarantees the actual trajectory being contained in a tube centred at the nominal trajectory. The dual-mode MPC is designed to ensure asymptotic convergence of the nominal trajectory to zero. This paper extends current results on discrete-time model-based tube MPC and linear system model-based tube MPC to continuous-time nonlinear model-based tube MPC. The feasibility and robustness of the proposed robust MPC have been demonstrated by theoretical analysis and applications to a cart-damper springer system and a one-link robot manipulator.

  20. Automatic Mode Transition Enabled Robust Triboelectric Nanogenerators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Jun; Yang, Jin; Guo, Hengyu; Li, Zhaoling; Zheng, Li; Su, Yuanjie; Wen, Zhen; Fan, Xing; Wang, Zhong Lin

    2015-12-22

    Although the triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) has been proven to be a renewable and effective route for ambient energy harvesting, its robustness remains a great challenge due to the requirement of surface friction for a decent output, especially for the in-plane sliding mode TENG. Here, we present a rationally designed TENG for achieving a high output performance without compromising the device robustness by, first, converting the in-plane sliding electrification into a contact separation working mode and, second, creating an automatic transition between a contact working state and a noncontact working state. The magnet-assisted automatic transition triboelectric nanogenerator (AT-TENG) was demonstrated to effectively harness various ambient rotational motions to generate electricity with greatly improved device robustness. At a wind speed of 6.5 m/s or a water flow rate of 5.5 L/min, the harvested energy was capable of lighting up 24 spot lights (0.6 W each) simultaneously and charging a capacitor to greater than 120 V in 60 s. Furthermore, due to the rational structural design and unique output characteristics, the AT-TENG was not only capable of harvesting energy from natural bicycling and car motion but also acting as a self-powered speedometer with ultrahigh accuracy. Given such features as structural simplicity, easy fabrication, low cost, wide applicability even in a harsh environment, and high output performance with superior device robustness, the AT-TENG renders an effective and practical approach for ambient mechanical energy harvesting as well as self-powered active sensing.

  1. Distributionally robust hydro-thermal-wind economic dispatch

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen, Yue; Wei, Wei; Liu, Feng; Mei, Shengwei

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • A two-stage distributionally robust hydro-thermal-wind model is proposed. • A semi-definite programing equivalent and its algorithm are developed. • Cases that demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model are included. - Abstract: With the penetration of wind energy increasing, uncertainty has become a major challenge in power system dispatch. Hydro power can change rapidly and is regarded as one promising complementary energy resource to mitigate wind power fluctuation. Joint scheduling of hydro, thermal, and wind energy is attracting more and more attention nowadays. This paper proposes a distributionally robust hydro-thermal-wind economic dispatch (DR-HTW-ED) method to enhance the flexibility and reliability of power system operation. In contrast to the traditional stochastic optimization (SO) and adjustable robust optimization (ARO) method, distributionally robust optimization (DRO) method describes the uncertain wind power output by all possible probability distribution functions (PDFs) with the same mean and variance recovered from the forecast data, and optimizes the expected operation cost in the worst distribution. Traditional DRO optimized the random parameter in entire space, which is sometimes contradict to the actual situation. In this paper, we restrict the wind power uncertainty in a bounded set, and derive an equivalent semi-definite programming (SDP) for the DR-HTW-ED using S-lemma. A delayed constraint generation algorithm is suggested to solve it in a tractable manner. The proposed DR-HTW-ED is compared with the existing ARO based hydro-thermal-wind economic dispatch (AR-HTW-ED). Their respective features are shown from the perspective of computational efficiency and conservativeness of dispatch strategies.

  2. GFC-Robust Risk Management Strategies under the Basel Accord

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    M.J. McAleer (Michael); J.A. Jiménez-Martín (Juan-Ángel); T. Pérez-Amaral (Teodosio)

    2010-01-01

    textabstractA risk management strategy is proposed as being robust to the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) by selecting a Value-at-Risk (VaR) forecast that combines the forecasts of different VaR models. The robust forecast is based on the median of the point VaR forecasts of a set of conditional

  3. Effect of interaction strength on robustness of controlling edge dynamics in complex networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pang, Shao-Peng; Hao, Fei

    2018-05-01

    Robustness plays a critical role in the controllability of complex networks to withstand failures and perturbations. Recent advances in the edge controllability show that the interaction strength among edges plays a more important role than network structure. Therefore, we focus on the effect of interaction strength on the robustness of edge controllability. Using three categories of all edges to quantify the robustness, we develop a universal framework to evaluate and analyze the robustness in complex networks with arbitrary structures and interaction strengths. Applying our framework to a large number of model and real-world networks, we find that the interaction strength is a dominant factor for the robustness in undirected networks. Meanwhile, the strongest robustness and the optimal edge controllability in undirected networks can be achieved simultaneously. Different from the case of undirected networks, the robustness in directed networks is determined jointly by the interaction strength and the network's degree distribution. Moreover, a stronger robustness is usually associated with a larger number of driver nodes required to maintain full control in directed networks. This prompts us to provide an optimization method by adjusting the interaction strength to optimize the robustness of edge controllability.

  4. Timing robustness in the budding and fission yeast cell cycles.

    KAUST Repository

    Mangla, Karan; Dill, David L; Horowitz, Mark A

    2010-01-01

    Robustness of biological models has emerged as an important principle in systems biology. Many past analyses of Boolean models update all pending changes in signals simultaneously (i.e., synchronously), making it impossible to consider robustness

  5. Multi-Modal Active Perception for Autonomously Selecting Landing Sites on Icy Moons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arora, A.; Furlong, P. M.; Wong, U.; Fong, T.; Sukkarieh, S.

    2017-01-01

    Selecting suitable landing sites is fundamental to achieving many mission objectives in planetary robotic lander missions. However, due to sensing limitations, landing sites which are both safe and scientifically valuable often cannot be determined reliably from orbit, particularly, in icy moon missions where orbital sensing data is noisy and incomplete. This paper presents an active perception approach to Entry Descent and Landing (EDL) which enables the lander to autonomously plan informative descent trajectories, acquire high quality sensing data during descent and exploit this additional information to select higher utility landing sites. Our approach consists of two components: probabilistic modeling of landing site features and approximate trajectory planning using a sampling based planner. The proposed framework allows the lander to plan long horizons paths and remain robust to noisy data. Results in simulated environments show large performance improvements over alternative approaches and show promise that our approach has strong potential to improve science return of not only icy moon missions but EDL systems in general.

  6. Stable intermediates determine proteins' primary unfolding sites in the presence of surfactants

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Petersen, Steen Vang; Andersen, Kell kleiner; Enghild, Jan J.

    2009-01-01

    Despite detailed knowledge of the overall structural changes and stoichiometries of surfactant binding, little is known about which protein regions constitute the preferred sites of attack for initial unfolding. Here we have exposed three proteins to limited proteolysis at anionic (SDS) and catio......Despite detailed knowledge of the overall structural changes and stoichiometries of surfactant binding, little is known about which protein regions constitute the preferred sites of attack for initial unfolding. Here we have exposed three proteins to limited proteolysis at anionic (SDS......) and cationic (DTAC) surfactant concentrations corresponding to specific conformational transitions, using the surfactant-robust broad-specificity proteases Savinase and Alcalase. Cleavage sites are identified by SDS-PAGE and N-terminal sequencing. We observe well-defined cleavage fragments, which suggest......, cleavage sites can be rationalized from the structure of the protein's folding transition state and the position of loops in the native state. Nevertheless, they are more sensitive to choice of surfactant and protease, probably reflecting a heterogeneous and fluctuating ensemble of partially unfolded...

  7. Robust extraction of baseline signal of atmospheric trace species using local regression

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. F. Ruckstuhl

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available The identification of atmospheric trace species measurements that are representative of well-mixed background air masses is required for monitoring atmospheric composition change at background sites. We present a statistical method based on robust local regression that is well suited for the selection of background measurements and the estimation of associated baseline curves. The bootstrap technique is applied to calculate the uncertainty in the resulting baseline curve. The non-parametric nature of the proposed approach makes it a very flexible data filtering method. Application to carbon monoxide (CO measured from 1996 to 2009 at the high-alpine site Jungfraujoch (Switzerland, 3580 m a.s.l., and to measurements of 1,1-difluoroethane (HFC-152a from Jungfraujoch (2000 to 2009 and Mace Head (Ireland, 1995 to 2009 demonstrates the feasibility and usefulness of the proposed approach.

    The determined average annual change of CO at Jungfraujoch for the 1996 to 2009 period as estimated from filtered annual mean CO concentrations is −2.2 ± 1.1 ppb yr−1. For comparison, the linear trend of unfiltered CO measurements at Jungfraujoch for this time period is −2.9 ± 1.3 ppb yr−1.

  8. Aspects of robust linear regression

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Davies, P.L.

    1993-01-01

    Section 1 of the paper contains a general discussion of robustness. In Section 2 the influence function of the Hampel-Rousseeuw least median of squares estimator is derived. Linearly invariant weak metrics are constructed in Section 3. It is shown in Section 4 that $S$-estimators satisfy an exact

  9. Approximability of Robust Network Design

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Olver, N.K.; Shepherd, F.B.

    2014-01-01

    We consider robust (undirected) network design (RND) problems where the set of feasible demands may be given by an arbitrary convex body. This model, introduced by Ben-Ameur and Kerivin [Ben-Ameur W, Kerivin H (2003) New economical virtual private networks. Comm. ACM 46(6):69-73], generalizes the

  10. Robust control synthesis for uncertain dynamical systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Byun, Kuk-Whan; Wie, Bong; Sunkel, John

    1989-01-01

    This paper presents robust control synthesis techniques for uncertain dynamical systems subject to structured parameter perturbation. Both QFT (quantitative feedback theory) and H-infinity control synthesis techniques are investigated. Although most H-infinity-related control techniques are not concerned with the structured parameter perturbation, a new way of incorporating the parameter uncertainty in the robust H-infinity control design is presented. A generic model of uncertain dynamical systems is used to illustrate the design methodologies investigated in this paper. It is shown that, for a certain noncolocated structural control problem, use of both techniques results in nonminimum phase compensation.

  11. Return Predictability, Model Uncertainty, and Robust Investment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lukas, Manuel

    Stock return predictability is subject to great uncertainty. In this paper we use the model confidence set approach to quantify uncertainty about expected utility from investment, accounting for potential return predictability. For monthly US data and six representative return prediction models, we...... find that confidence sets are very wide, change significantly with the predictor variables, and frequently include expected utilities for which the investor prefers not to invest. The latter motivates a robust investment strategy maximizing the minimal element of the confidence set. The robust investor...... allocates a much lower share of wealth to stocks compared to a standard investor....

  12. Superlinearly scalable noise robustness of redundant coupled dynamical systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kohar, Vivek; Kia, Behnam; Lindner, John F; Ditto, William L

    2016-03-01

    We illustrate through theory and numerical simulations that redundant coupled dynamical systems can be extremely robust against local noise in comparison to uncoupled dynamical systems evolving in the same noisy environment. Previous studies have shown that the noise robustness of redundant coupled dynamical systems is linearly scalable and deviations due to noise can be minimized by increasing the number of coupled units. Here, we demonstrate that the noise robustness can actually be scaled superlinearly if some conditions are met and very high noise robustness can be realized with very few coupled units. We discuss these conditions and show that this superlinear scalability depends on the nonlinearity of the individual dynamical units. The phenomenon is demonstrated in discrete as well as continuous dynamical systems. This superlinear scalability not only provides us an opportunity to exploit the nonlinearity of physical systems without being bogged down by noise but may also help us in understanding the functional role of coupled redundancy found in many biological systems. Moreover, engineers can exploit superlinear noise suppression by starting a coupled system near (not necessarily at) the appropriate initial condition.

  13. Robust Optimization Model for Production Planning Problem under Uncertainty

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pembe GÜÇLÜ

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Conditions of businesses change very quickly. To take into account the uncertainty engendered by changes has become almost a rule while planning. Robust optimization techniques that are methods of handling uncertainty ensure to produce less sensitive results to changing conditions. Production planning, is to decide from which product, when and how much will be produced, with a most basic definition. Modeling and solution of the Production planning problems changes depending on structure of the production processes, parameters and variables. In this paper, it is aimed to generate and apply scenario based robust optimization model for capacitated two-stage multi-product production planning problem under parameter and demand uncertainty. With this purpose, production planning problem of a textile company that operate in İzmir has been modeled and solved, then deterministic scenarios’ and robust method’s results have been compared. Robust method has provided a production plan that has higher cost but, will result close to feasible and optimal for most of the different scenarios in the future.

  14. Robust and optimal control a two-port framework approach

    CERN Document Server

    Tsai, Mi-Ching

    2014-01-01

    A Two-port Framework for Robust and Optimal Control introduces an alternative approach to robust and optimal controller synthesis procedures for linear, time-invariant systems, based on the two-port system widespread in electrical engineering. The novel use of the two-port system in this context allows straightforward engineering-oriented solution-finding procedures to be developed, requiring no mathematics beyond linear algebra. A chain-scattering description provides a unified framework for constructing the stabilizing controller set and for synthesizing H2 optimal and H∞ sub-optimal controllers. Simple yet illustrative examples explain each step. A Two-port Framework for Robust and Optimal Control  features: ·         a hands-on, tutorial-style presentation giving the reader the opportunity to repeat the designs presented and easily to modify them for their own programs; ·         an abundance of examples illustrating the most important steps in robust and optimal design; and ·   �...

  15. Robust design principles for reducing variation in functional performance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christensen, Martin Ebro; Howard, Thomas J.

    2016-01-01

    This paper identifies, describes and classifies a comprehensive collection of variation reduction principles (VRP) that can be used to increase the robustness of a product and reduce its variation in functional performance. Performance variation has a negative effect on the reliability and percei......This paper identifies, describes and classifies a comprehensive collection of variation reduction principles (VRP) that can be used to increase the robustness of a product and reduce its variation in functional performance. Performance variation has a negative effect on the reliability...... and perceived quality of a product and efforts should be made to minimise it. The design principles are identified by a systematic decomposition of the Taguchi Transfer Function in combination with the use of existing literature and the authors’ experience. The paper presents 15 principles and describes...... their advantages and disadvantages along with example cases. Subsequently, the principles are classified based on their applicability in the various development and production stages. The VRP are to be added to existing robust design methodologies, helping the designer to think beyond robust design tool and method...

  16. Systematic and robust design of photonic crystal waveguides by topology optimization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wang, Fengwen; Jensen, Jakob Søndergaard; Sigmund, Ole

    2010-01-01

    on a threshold projection. The objective is formulated to minimize the maximum error between actual group indices and a prescribed group index among these three designs. Novel photonic crystal waveguide facilitating slow light with a group index of n(g) = 40 is achieved by the robust optimization approach......A robust topology optimization method is presented to consider manufacturing uncertainties in tailoring dispersion properties of photonic crystal waveguides. The under, normal and over-etching scenarios in manufacturing process are represented by dilated, intermediate and eroded designs based....... The numerical result illustrates that the robust topology optimization provides a systematic and robust design methodology for photonic crystal waveguide design....

  17. High-Si content BARC for dual-BARC systems such as trilayer patterning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kennedy, Joseph; Xie, Song-Yuan; Wu, Ze-Yu; Katsanes, Ron; Flanigan, Kyle; Lee, Kevin; Slezak, Mark; Liu, Zhi; Lin, Shang-Ho

    2009-03-01

    This work discusses the requirements and performance of Honeywell's middle layer material, UVAS, for tri-layer patterning. UVAS is a high Si content polymer synthesized directly from Si containing starting monomer components. The monomers are selected to produce a film that meets the requirements as a middle layer for tri-layer patterning (TLP) and gives us a level of flexibility to adjust the properties of the film to meet the customer's specific photoresist and patterning requirements. Results of simulations of the substrate reflectance versus numerical aperture, UVAS thickness, and under layer film are presented. ArF photoresist line profiles and process latitude versus UVAS bake at temperatures as low as 150ºC are presented and discussed. Immersion lithographic patterning of ArF photoresist line space and contact hole features will be presented. A sequence of SEM images detailing the plasma etch transfer of line space photoresist features through the middle and under layer films comprising the TLP film stack will be presented. Excellent etch selectivity between the UVAS and the organic under layer film exists as no edge erosion or faceting is observed as a result of the etch process. A detailed study of the impact of a PGMEA solvent photoresist rework process on the lithographic process window of a TLP film stack was performed with the results indicating that no degradation to the UVAS film occurs.

  18. Robustness from flexibility in the fungal circadian clock

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Akman Ozgur E

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Robustness is a central property of living systems, enabling function to be maintained against environmental perturbations. A key challenge is to identify the structures in biological circuits that confer system-level properties such as robustness. Circadian clocks allow organisms to adapt to the predictable changes of the 24-hour day/night cycle by generating endogenous rhythms that can be entrained to the external cycle. In all organisms, the clock circuits typically comprise multiple interlocked feedback loops controlling the rhythmic expression of key genes. Previously, we showed that such architectures increase the flexibility of the clock's rhythmic behaviour. We now test the relationship between flexibility and robustness, using a mathematical model of the circuit controlling conidiation in the fungus Neurospora crassa. Results The circuit modelled in this work consists of a central negative feedback loop, in which the frequency (frq gene inhibits its transcriptional activator white collar-1 (wc-1, interlocked with a positive feedback loop in which FRQ protein upregulates WC-1 production. Importantly, our model reproduces the observed entrainment of this circuit under light/dark cycles with varying photoperiod and cycle duration. Our simulations show that whilst the level of frq mRNA is driven directly by the light input, the falling phase of FRQ protein, a molecular correlate of conidiation, maintains a constant phase that is uncoupled from the times of dawn and dusk. The model predicts the behaviour of mutants that uncouple WC-1 production from FRQ's positive feedback, and shows that the positive loop enhances the buffering of conidiation phase against seasonal photoperiod changes. This property is quantified using Kitano's measure for the overall robustness of a regulated system output. Further analysis demonstrates that this functional robustness is a consequence of the greater evolutionary flexibility conferred on

  19. Robustness Assessment of Urban Road Network with Consideration of Multiple Hazard Events.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Yaoming; Sheu, Jiuh-Biing; Wang, Junwei

    2017-08-01

    Robustness measures a system's ability of being insensitive to disturbances. Previous studies assessed the robustness of transportation networks to a single disturbance without considering simultaneously happening multiple events. The purpose of this article is to address this problem and propose a new framework to assess the robustness of an urban transportation network. The framework consists of two layers. The upper layer is to define the robustness index based on the impact evaluation in different scenarios obtained from the lower layer, whereas the lower layer is to evaluate the performance of each hypothetical disrupted road network given by the upper layer. The upper layer has two varieties, that is, robustness against random failure and robustness against intentional attacks. This robustness measurement framework is validated by application to a real-world urban road network in Hong Kong. The results show that the robustness of a transport network with consideration of multiple events is quite different from and more comprehensive than that with consideration of only a single disruption. We also propose a Monte Carlo method and a heuristic algorithm to handle different scenarios with multiple hazard events, which is proved to be quite efficient. This methodology can also be applied to conduct risk analysis of other systems where multiple failures or disruptions exist. © 2017 Society for Risk Analysis.

  20. New robust statistical procedures for the polytomous logistic regression models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castilla, Elena; Ghosh, Abhik; Martin, Nirian; Pardo, Leandro

    2018-05-17

    This article derives a new family of estimators, namely the minimum density power divergence estimators, as a robust generalization of the maximum likelihood estimator for the polytomous logistic regression model. Based on these estimators, a family of Wald-type test statistics for linear hypotheses is introduced. Robustness properties of both the proposed estimators and the test statistics are theoretically studied through the classical influence function analysis. Appropriate real life examples are presented to justify the requirement of suitable robust statistical procedures in place of the likelihood based inference for the polytomous logistic regression model. The validity of the theoretical results established in the article are further confirmed empirically through suitable simulation studies. Finally, an approach for the data-driven selection of the robustness tuning parameter is proposed with empirical justifications. © 2018, The International Biometric Society.

  1. Multivariable robust adaptive controller using reduced-order model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wei Wang

    1990-04-01

    Full Text Available In this paper a multivariable robust adaptive controller is presented for a plant with bounded disturbances and unmodeled dynamics due to plant-model order mismatches. The robust stability of the closed-loop system is achieved by using the normalization technique and the least squares parameter estimation scheme with dead zones. The weighting polynomial matrices are incorporated into the control law, so that the open-loop unstable or/and nonminimum phase plants can be handled.

  2. Robust image authentication in the presence of noise

    CERN Document Server

    2015-01-01

    This book addresses the problems that hinder image authentication in the presence of noise. It considers the advantages and disadvantages of existing algorithms for image authentication and shows new approaches and solutions for robust image authentication. The state of the art algorithms are compared and, furthermore, innovative approaches and algorithms are introduced. The introduced algorithms are applied to improve image authentication, watermarking and biometry.    Aside from presenting new directions and algorithms for robust image authentication in the presence of noise, as well as image correction, this book also:   Provides an overview of the state of the art algorithms for image authentication in the presence of noise and modifications, as well as a comparison of these algorithms, Presents novel algorithms for robust image authentication, whereby the image is tried to be corrected and authenticated, Examines different views for the solution of problems connected to image authentication in the pre...

  3. Robust Output Model Predictive Control of an Unstable Rijke Tube

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fabian Jarmolowitz

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available This work investigates the active control of an unstable Rijke tube using robust output model predictive control (RMPC. As internal model a polytopic linear system with constraints is assumed to account for uncertainties. For guaranteed stability, a linear state feedback controller is designed using linear matrix inequalities and used within a feedback formulation of the model predictive controller. For state estimation a robust gain-scheduled observer is developed. It is shown that the proposed RMPC ensures robust stability under constraints over the considered operating range.

  4. Design of Robust Neural Network Classifiers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Jan; Andersen, Lars Nonboe; Hintz-Madsen, Mads

    1998-01-01

    This paper addresses a new framework for designing robust neural network classifiers. The network is optimized using the maximum a posteriori technique, i.e., the cost function is the sum of the log-likelihood and a regularization term (prior). In order to perform robust classification, we present...... a modified likelihood function which incorporates the potential risk of outliers in the data. This leads to the introduction of a new parameter, the outlier probability. Designing the neural classifier involves optimization of network weights as well as outlier probability and regularization parameters. We...... suggest to adapt the outlier probability and regularisation parameters by minimizing the error on a validation set, and a simple gradient descent scheme is derived. In addition, the framework allows for constructing a simple outlier detector. Experiments with artificial data demonstrate the potential...

  5. Robust Parameter Coordination for Multidisciplinary Design

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2006-01-01

    This paper introduced a robust parameter coordination method to analyze parameter uncertainties so as to predict conflicts and coordinate parameters in multidisciplinary design. The proposed method is based on constraints network, which gives a formulated model to analyze the coupling effects between design variables and product specifications. In this model, interval boxes are adopted to describe the uncertainty of design parameters quantitatively to enhance the design robustness. To solve this constraint network model, a general consistent algorithm framework is designed and implemented with interval arithmetic and the genetic algorithm, which can deal with both algebraic and ordinary differential equations. With the help of this method, designers could infer the consistent solution space from the given specifications. A case study involving the design of a bogie dumping system demonstrates the usefulness of this approach.

  6. Robust facility location: Hedging against failures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hernandez, Ivan; Emmanuel Ramirez-Marquez, Jose; Rainwater, Chase; Pohl, Edward; Medal, Hugh

    2014-01-01

    While few companies would be willing to sacrifice day-to-day operations to hedge against disruptions, designing for robustness can yield solutions that perform well before and after failures have occurred. Through a multi-objective optimization approach this paper provides decision makers the option to trade-off total weighted distance before and after disruptions in the Facility Location Problem. Additionally, this approach allows decision makers to understand the impact on the opening of facilities on total distance and on system robustness (considering the system as the set of located facilities). This approach differs from previous studies in that hedging against failures is done without having to elicit facility failure probabilities concurrently without requiring the allocation of additional hardening/protections resources. The approach is applied to two datasets from the literature

  7. Unbiased tensor-based morphometry: improved robustness and sample size estimates for Alzheimer's disease clinical trials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hua, Xue; Hibar, Derrek P; Ching, Christopher R K; Boyle, Christina P; Rajagopalan, Priya; Gutman, Boris A; Leow, Alex D; Toga, Arthur W; Jack, Clifford R; Harvey, Danielle; Weiner, Michael W; Thompson, Paul M

    2013-02-01

    Various neuroimaging measures are being evaluated for tracking Alzheimer's disease (AD) progression in therapeutic trials, including measures of structural brain change based on repeated scanning of patients with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Methods to compute brain change must be robust to scan quality. Biases may arise if any scans are thrown out, as this can lead to the true changes being overestimated or underestimated. Here we analyzed the full MRI dataset from the first phase of Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI-1) from the first phase of Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI-1) and assessed several sources of bias that can arise when tracking brain changes with structural brain imaging methods, as part of a pipeline for tensor-based morphometry (TBM). In all healthy subjects who completed MRI scanning at screening, 6, 12, and 24months, brain atrophy was essentially linear with no detectable bias in longitudinal measures. In power analyses for clinical trials based on these change measures, only 39AD patients and 95 mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subjects were needed for a 24-month trial to detect a 25% reduction in the average rate of change using a two-sided test (α=0.05, power=80%). Further sample size reductions were achieved by stratifying the data into Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) ε4 carriers versus non-carriers. We show how selective data exclusion affects sample size estimates, motivating an objective comparison of different analysis techniques based on statistical power and robustness. TBM is an unbiased, robust, high-throughput imaging surrogate marker for large, multi-site neuroimaging studies and clinical trials of AD and MCI. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Robust Optimization Using Supremum of the Objective Function for Nonlinear Programming Problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Se Jung; Park, Gyung Jin

    2014-01-01

    In the robust optimization field, the robustness of the objective function emphasizes an insensitive design. In general, the robustness of the objective function can be achieved by reducing the change of the objective function with respect to the variation of the design variables and parameters. However, in conventional methods, when an insensitive design is emphasized, the performance of the objective function can be deteriorated. Besides, if the numbers of the design variables are increased, the numerical cost is quite high in robust optimization for nonlinear programming problems. In this research, the robustness index for the objective function and a process of robust optimization are proposed. Moreover, a method using the supremum of linearized functions is also proposed to reduce the computational cost. Mathematical examples are solved for the verification of the proposed method and the results are compared with those from the conventional methods. The proposed approach improves the performance of the objective function and its efficiency

  9. Robust K-Median and K-Means Clustering Algorithms for Incomplete Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jinhua Li

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Incomplete data with missing feature values are prevalent in clustering problems. Traditional clustering methods first estimate the missing values by imputation and then apply the classical clustering algorithms for complete data, such as K-median and K-means. However, in practice, it is often hard to obtain accurate estimation of the missing values, which deteriorates the performance of clustering. To enhance the robustness of clustering algorithms, this paper represents the missing values by interval data and introduces the concept of robust cluster objective function. A minimax robust optimization (RO formulation is presented to provide clustering results, which are insensitive to estimation errors. To solve the proposed RO problem, we propose robust K-median and K-means clustering algorithms with low time and space complexity. Comparisons and analysis of experimental results on both artificially generated and real-world incomplete data sets validate the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.

  10. Robust hopping based on virtual pendulum posture control

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sharbafi, Maziar A; Ahmadabadi, Majid Nili; Yazdanpanah, Mohammad J; Maufroy, Christophe; Seyfarth, Andre

    2013-01-01

    A new control approach to achieve robust hopping against perturbations in the sagittal plane is presented in this paper. In perturbed hopping, vertical body alignment has a significant role for stability. Our approach is based on the virtual pendulum concept, recently proposed, based on experimental findings in human and animal locomotion. In this concept, the ground reaction forces are pointed to a virtual support point, named virtual pivot point (VPP), during motion. This concept is employed in designing the controller to balance the trunk during the stance phase. New strategies for leg angle and length adjustment besides the virtual pendulum posture control are proposed as a unified controller. This method is investigated by applying it on an extension of the spring loaded inverted pendulum (SLIP) model. Trunk, leg mass and damping are added to the SLIP model in order to make the model more realistic. The stability is analyzed by Poincaré map analysis. With fixed VPP position, stability, disturbance rejection and moderate robustness are achieved, but with a low convergence speed. To improve the performance and attain higher robustness, an event-based control of the VPP position is introduced, using feedback of the system states at apexes. Discrete linear quartic regulator is used to design the feedback controller. Considerable enhancements with respect to stability, convergence speed and robustness against perturbations and parameter changes are achieved. (paper)

  11. On robust parameter estimation in brain-computer interfacing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Samek, Wojciech; Nakajima, Shinichi; Kawanabe, Motoaki; Müller, Klaus-Robert

    2017-12-01

    Objective. The reliable estimation of parameters such as mean or covariance matrix from noisy and high-dimensional observations is a prerequisite for successful application of signal processing and machine learning algorithms in brain-computer interfacing (BCI). This challenging task becomes significantly more difficult if the data set contains outliers, e.g. due to subject movements, eye blinks or loose electrodes, as they may heavily bias the estimation and the subsequent statistical analysis. Although various robust estimators have been developed to tackle the outlier problem, they ignore important structural information in the data and thus may not be optimal. Typical structural elements in BCI data are the trials consisting of a few hundred EEG samples and indicating the start and end of a task. Approach. This work discusses the parameter estimation problem in BCI and introduces a novel hierarchical view on robustness which naturally comprises different types of outlierness occurring in structured data. Furthermore, the class of minimum divergence estimators is reviewed and a robust mean and covariance estimator for structured data is derived and evaluated with simulations and on a benchmark data set. Main results. The results show that state-of-the-art BCI algorithms benefit from robustly estimated parameters. Significance. Since parameter estimation is an integral part of various machine learning algorithms, the presented techniques are applicable to many problems beyond BCI.

  12. Robustness for slope stability modelling under deep uncertainty

    Science.gov (United States)

    Almeida, Susana; Holcombe, Liz; Pianosi, Francesca; Wagener, Thorsten

    2015-04-01

    Landslides can have large negative societal and economic impacts, such as loss of life and damage to infrastructure. However, the ability of slope stability assessment to guide management is limited by high levels of uncertainty in model predictions. Many of these uncertainties cannot be easily quantified, such as those linked to climate change and other future socio-economic conditions, restricting the usefulness of traditional decision analysis tools. Deep uncertainty can be managed more effectively by developing robust, but not necessarily optimal, policies that are expected to perform adequately under a wide range of future conditions. Robust strategies are particularly valuable when the consequences of taking a wrong decision are high as is often the case of when managing natural hazard risks such as landslides. In our work a physically based numerical model of hydrologically induced slope instability (the Combined Hydrology and Stability Model - CHASM) is applied together with robust decision making to evaluate the most important uncertainties (storm events, groundwater conditions, surface cover, slope geometry, material strata and geotechnical properties) affecting slope stability. Specifically, impacts of climate change on long-term slope stability are incorporated, accounting for the deep uncertainty in future climate projections. Our findings highlight the potential of robust decision making to aid decision support for landslide hazard reduction and risk management under conditions of deep uncertainty.

  13. Evaluation of a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) method for rapid on-site detection of horse meat

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Aartse, Aafke; Scholtens-Toma, Ingrid; A, van der Hans J.G.; Boersma-Greve, Monique M.; Prins, Theo W.; Ginkel, van Leen A.; Kok, Esther J.; Bovee, Toine F.H.

    2017-01-01

    Detection of horse DNA by loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) seems one of the most promising methods to meet the criteria of fast, robust, cost efficient, specific, and sensitive on-site detection. In the present study an assessment of the specificity and sensitivity of the LAMP horse

  14. Robustness of assembly supply chain networks by considering risk propagation and cascading failure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Liang; Jing, Ke; He, Jie; Stanley, H. Eugene

    2016-10-01

    An assembly supply chain network (ASCN) is composed of manufacturers located in different geographical regions. To analyze the robustness of this ASCN when it suffers from catastrophe disruption events, we construct a cascading failure model of risk propagation. In our model, different disruption scenarios s are considered and the probability equation of all disruption scenarios is developed. Using production capability loss as the robustness index (RI) of an ASCN, we conduct a numerical simulation to assess its robustness. Through simulation, we compare the network robustness at different values of linking intensity and node threshold and find that weak linking intensity or high node threshold increases the robustness of the ASCN. We also compare network robustness levels under different disruption scenarios.

  15. Second order statistics of bilinear forms of robust scatter estimators

    KAUST Repository

    Kammoun, Abla; Couillet, Romain; Pascal, Fré dé ric

    2015-01-01

    . In particular, we analyze the fluctuations of bilinear forms of the robust shrinkage estimator of covariance matrix. We show that this result can be leveraged in order to improve the design of robust detection methods. As an example, we provide an improved

  16. Robust Steganography Using LSB-XOR and Image Sharing

    OpenAIRE

    Adak, Chandranath

    2013-01-01

    Hiding and securing the secret digital information and data that are transmitted over the internet is of widespread and most challenging interest. This paper presents a new idea of robust steganography using bitwise-XOR operation between stego-key-image-pixel LSB (Least Significant Bit) value and secret message-character ASCII-binary value (or, secret image-pixel value). The stego-key-image is shared in dual-layer using odd-even position of each pixel to make the system robust. Due to image s...

  17. Robust Performance And Dissipation of Stochastic Control Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thygesen, Uffe Høgsbro

    and topology on the space of supply rates. For instance, we give conditions under which the available storage is a continuous convex function of the supply rate. Dissipation theory in the existing literature applies only to deterministic systems. This is unfortunate since robust control applications typically...... is a prototype of robust adaptive control problems. We show that the optimal (minimax) controller for this problem is finite dimensional but not based on certainty equivalence, and we discuss the heuristic certainty equivalence controller....

  18. Image segmentation-based robust feature extraction for color image watermarking

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Mianjie; Deng, Zeyu; Yuan, Xiaochen

    2018-04-01

    This paper proposes a local digital image watermarking method based on Robust Feature Extraction. The segmentation is achieved by Simple Linear Iterative Clustering (SLIC) based on which an Image Segmentation-based Robust Feature Extraction (ISRFE) method is proposed for feature extraction. Our method can adaptively extract feature regions from the blocks segmented by SLIC. This novel method can extract the most robust feature region in every segmented image. Each feature region is decomposed into low-frequency domain and high-frequency domain by Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT). Watermark images are then embedded into the coefficients in the low-frequency domain. The Distortion-Compensated Dither Modulation (DC-DM) algorithm is chosen as the quantization method for embedding. The experimental results indicate that the method has good performance under various attacks. Furthermore, the proposed method can obtain a trade-off between high robustness and good image quality.

  19. Observation Quality Control with a Robust Ensemble Kalman Filter

    KAUST Repository

    Roh, Soojin

    2013-12-01

    Current ensemble-based Kalman filter (EnKF) algorithms are not robust to gross observation errors caused by technical or human errors during the data collection process. In this paper, the authors consider two types of gross observational errors, additive statistical outliers and innovation outliers, and introduce a method to make EnKF robust to gross observation errors. Using both a one-dimensional linear system of dynamics and a 40-variable Lorenz model, the performance of the proposed robust ensemble Kalman filter (REnKF) was tested and it was found that the new approach greatly improves the performance of the filter in the presence of gross observation errors and leads to only a modest loss of accuracy with clean, outlier-free, observations.

  20. Software Tools for Robust Analysis of High-Dimensional Data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valentin Todorov

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The present work discusses robust multivariate methods specifically designed for highdimensions. Their implementation in R is presented and their application is illustratedon examples. The first group are algorithms for outlier detection, already introducedelsewhere and implemented in other packages. The value added of the new package isthat all methods follow the same design pattern and thus can use the same graphicaland diagnostic tools. The next topic covered is sparse principal components including anobject oriented interface to the standard method proposed by Zou, Hastie, and Tibshirani(2006 and the robust one proposed by Croux, Filzmoser, and Fritz (2013. Robust partialleast squares (see Hubert and Vanden Branden 2003 as well as partial least squares fordiscriminant analysis conclude the scope of the new package.

  1. Observation Quality Control with a Robust Ensemble Kalman Filter

    KAUST Repository

    Roh, Soojin; Genton, Marc G.; Jun, Mikyoung; Szunyogh, Istvan; Hoteit, Ibrahim

    2013-01-01

    Current ensemble-based Kalman filter (EnKF) algorithms are not robust to gross observation errors caused by technical or human errors during the data collection process. In this paper, the authors consider two types of gross observational errors, additive statistical outliers and innovation outliers, and introduce a method to make EnKF robust to gross observation errors. Using both a one-dimensional linear system of dynamics and a 40-variable Lorenz model, the performance of the proposed robust ensemble Kalman filter (REnKF) was tested and it was found that the new approach greatly improves the performance of the filter in the presence of gross observation errors and leads to only a modest loss of accuracy with clean, outlier-free, observations.

  2. Deriving amplification factors from simple site parameters using generalized regression neural networks: implications for relevant site proxies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boudghene Stambouli, Ahmed; Zendagui, Djawad; Bard, Pierre-Yves; Derras, Boumédiène

    2017-07-01

    Most modern seismic codes account for site effects using an amplification factor (AF) that modifies the rock acceleration response spectra in relation to a "site condition proxy," i.e., a parameter related to the velocity profile at the site under consideration. Therefore, for practical purposes, it is interesting to identify the site parameters that best control the frequency-dependent shape of the AF. The goal of the present study is to provide a quantitative assessment of the performance of various site condition proxies to predict the main AF features, including the often used short- and mid-period amplification factors, Fa and Fv, proposed by Borcherdt (in Earthq Spectra 10:617-653, 1994). In this context, the linear, viscoelastic responses of a set of 858 actual soil columns from Japan, the USA, and Europe are computed for a set of 14 real accelerograms with varying frequency contents. The correlation between the corresponding site-specific average amplification factors and several site proxies (considered alone or as multiple combinations) is analyzed using the generalized regression neural network (GRNN). The performance of each site proxy combination is assessed through the variance reduction with respect to the initial amplification factor variability of the 858 profiles. Both the whole period range and specific short- and mid-period ranges associated with the Borcherdt factors Fa and Fv are considered. The actual amplification factor of an arbitrary soil profile is found to be satisfactorily approximated with a limited number of site proxies (4-6). As the usual code practice implies a lower number of site proxies (generally one, sometimes two), a sensitivity analysis is conducted to identify the "best performing" site parameters. The best one is the overall velocity contrast between underlying bedrock and minimum velocity in the soil column. Because these are the most difficult and expensive parameters to measure, especially for thick deposits, other

  3. Optimization of robustness of interdependent network controllability by redundant design.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zenghu Zhang

    Full Text Available Controllability of complex networks has been a hot topic in recent years. Real networks regarded as interdependent networks are always coupled together by multiple networks. The cascading process of interdependent networks including interdependent failure and overload failure will destroy the robustness of controllability for the whole network. Therefore, the optimization of the robustness of interdependent network controllability is of great importance in the research area of complex networks. In this paper, based on the model of interdependent networks constructed first, we determine the cascading process under different proportions of node attacks. Then, the structural controllability of interdependent networks is measured by the minimum driver nodes. Furthermore, we propose a parameter which can be obtained by the structure and minimum driver set of interdependent networks under different proportions of node attacks and analyze the robustness for interdependent network controllability. Finally, we optimize the robustness of interdependent network controllability by redundant design including node backup and redundancy edge backup and improve the redundant design by proposing different strategies according to their cost. Comparative strategies of redundant design are conducted to find the best strategy. Results shows that node backup and redundancy edge backup can indeed decrease those nodes suffering from failure and improve the robustness of controllability. Considering the cost of redundant design, we should choose BBS (betweenness-based strategy or DBS (degree based strategy for node backup and HDF(high degree first for redundancy edge backup. Above all, our proposed strategies are feasible and effective at improving the robustness of interdependent network controllability.

  4. Robust linear registration of CT images using random regression forests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Konukoglu, Ender; Criminisi, Antonio; Pathak, Sayan; Robertson, Duncan; White, Steve; Haynor, David; Siddiqui, Khan

    2011-03-01

    Global linear registration is a necessary first step for many different tasks in medical image analysis. Comparing longitudinal studies1, cross-modality fusion2, and many other applications depend heavily on the success of the automatic registration. The robustness and efficiency of this step is crucial as it affects all subsequent operations. Most common techniques cast the linear registration problem as the minimization of a global energy function based on the image intensities. Although these algorithms have proved useful, their robustness in fully automated scenarios is still an open question. In fact, the optimization step often gets caught in local minima yielding unsatisfactory results. Recent algorithms constrain the space of registration parameters by exploiting implicit or explicit organ segmentations, thus increasing robustness4,5. In this work we propose a novel robust algorithm for automatic global linear image registration. Our method uses random regression forests to estimate posterior probability distributions for the locations of anatomical structures - represented as axis aligned bounding boxes6. These posterior distributions are later integrated in a global linear registration algorithm. The biggest advantage of our algorithm is that it does not require pre-defined segmentations or regions. Yet it yields robust registration results. We compare the robustness of our algorithm with that of the state of the art Elastix toolbox7. Validation is performed via 1464 pair-wise registrations in a database of very diverse 3D CT images. We show that our method decreases the "failure" rate of the global linear registration from 12.5% (Elastix) to only 1.9%.

  5. Highly Robust Methods in Data Mining

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Kalina, Jan

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 8, č. 1 (2013), s. 9-24 ISSN 1452-4864 Institutional support: RVO:67985807 Keywords : data mining * robust statistics * high-dimensional data * cluster analysis * logistic regression * neural networks Subject RIV: BB - Applied Statistics, Operational Research

  6. Robust and Efficient Parametric Face Alignment

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tzimiropoulos, Georgios; Zafeiriou, Stefanos; Pantic, Maja

    2011-01-01

    We propose a correlation-based approach to parametric object alignment particularly suitable for face analysis applications which require efficiency and robustness against occlusions and illumination changes. Our algorithm registers two images by iteratively maximizing their correlation coefficient

  7. Robustness against parametric noise of nonideal holonomic gates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lupo, Cosmo; Aniello, Paolo; Napolitano, Mario; Florio, Giuseppe

    2007-01-01

    Holonomic gates for quantum computation are commonly considered to be robust against certain kinds of parametric noise, the cause of this robustness being the geometric character of the transformation achieved in the adiabatic limit. On the other hand, the effects of decoherence are expected to become more and more relevant when the adiabatic limit is approached. Starting from the system described by Florio et al. [Phys. Rev. A 73, 022327 (2006)], here we discuss the behavior of nonideal holonomic gates at finite operational time, i.e., long before the adiabatic limit is reached. We have considered several models of parametric noise and studied the robustness of finite-time gates. The results obtained suggest that the finite-time gates present some effects of cancellation of the perturbations introduced by the noise which mimic the geometrical cancellation effect of standard holonomic gates. Nevertheless, a careful analysis of the results leads to the conclusion that these effects are related to a dynamical instead of a geometrical feature

  8. Robustness against parametric noise of nonideal holonomic gates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lupo, Cosmo; Aniello, Paolo; Napolitano, Mario; Florio, Giuseppe

    2007-07-01

    Holonomic gates for quantum computation are commonly considered to be robust against certain kinds of parametric noise, the cause of this robustness being the geometric character of the transformation achieved in the adiabatic limit. On the other hand, the effects of decoherence are expected to become more and more relevant when the adiabatic limit is approached. Starting from the system described by Florio [Phys. Rev. A 73, 022327 (2006)], here we discuss the behavior of nonideal holonomic gates at finite operational time, i.e., long before the adiabatic limit is reached. We have considered several models of parametric noise and studied the robustness of finite-time gates. The results obtained suggest that the finite-time gates present some effects of cancellation of the perturbations introduced by the noise which mimic the geometrical cancellation effect of standard holonomic gates. Nevertheless, a careful analysis of the results leads to the conclusion that these effects are related to a dynamical instead of a geometrical feature.

  9. A Robust Parallel Algorithm for Combinatorial Compressed Sensing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mendoza-Smith, Rodrigo; Tanner, Jared W.; Wechsung, Florian

    2018-04-01

    In previous work two of the authors have shown that a vector $x \\in \\mathbb{R}^n$ with at most $k Parallel-$\\ell_0$ decoding algorithm, where $\\mathrm{nnz}(A)$ denotes the number of nonzero entries in $A \\in \\mathbb{R}^{m \\times n}$. In this paper we present the Robust-$\\ell_0$ decoding algorithm, which robustifies Parallel-$\\ell_0$ when the sketch $Ax$ is corrupted by additive noise. This robustness is achieved by approximating the asymptotic posterior distribution of values in the sketch given its corrupted measurements. We provide analytic expressions that approximate these posteriors under the assumptions that the nonzero entries in the signal and the noise are drawn from continuous distributions. Numerical experiments presented show that Robust-$\\ell_0$ is superior to existing greedy and combinatorial compressed sensing algorithms in the presence of small to moderate signal-to-noise ratios in the setting of Gaussian signals and Gaussian additive noise.

  10. Robust methods and asymptotic theory in nonlinear econometrics

    CERN Document Server

    Bierens, Herman J

    1981-01-01

    This Lecture Note deals with asymptotic properties, i.e. weak and strong consistency and asymptotic normality, of parameter estimators of nonlinear regression models and nonlinear structural equations under various assumptions on the distribution of the data. The estimation methods involved are nonlinear least squares estimation (NLLSE), nonlinear robust M-estimation (NLRME) and non­ linear weighted robust M-estimation (NLWRME) for the regression case and nonlinear two-stage least squares estimation (NL2SLSE) and a new method called minimum information estimation (MIE) for the case of structural equations. The asymptotic properties of the NLLSE and the two robust M-estimation methods are derived from further elaborations of results of Jennrich. Special attention is payed to the comparison of the asymptotic efficiency of NLLSE and NLRME. It is shown that if the tails of the error distribution are fatter than those of the normal distribution NLRME is more efficient than NLLSE. The NLWRME method is appropriate ...

  11. Robust Semi-Supervised Manifold Learning Algorithm for Classification

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mingxia Chen

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available In the recent years, manifold learning methods have been widely used in data classification to tackle the curse of dimensionality problem, since they can discover the potential intrinsic low-dimensional structures of the high-dimensional data. Given partially labeled data, the semi-supervised manifold learning algorithms are proposed to predict the labels of the unlabeled points, taking into account label information. However, these semi-supervised manifold learning algorithms are not robust against noisy points, especially when the labeled data contain noise. In this paper, we propose a framework for robust semi-supervised manifold learning (RSSML to address this problem. The noisy levels of the labeled points are firstly predicted, and then a regularization term is constructed to reduce the impact of labeled points containing noise. A new robust semi-supervised optimization model is proposed by adding the regularization term to the traditional semi-supervised optimization model. Numerical experiments are given to show the improvement and efficiency of RSSML on noisy data sets.

  12. Facial Symmetry in Robust Anthropometrics

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Kalina, Jan

    2012-01-01

    Roč. 57, č. 3 (2012), s. 691-698 ISSN 0022-1198 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) 1M06014 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10300504 Keywords : forensic science * anthropology * robust image analysis * correlation analysis * multivariate data * classification Subject RIV: BB - Applied Statistics, Operational Research Impact factor: 1.244, year: 2012

  13. Robustness Analysis of Real Network Topologies Under Multiple Failure Scenarios

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Manzano, M.; Marzo, J. L.; Calle, E.

    2012-01-01

    on topological characteristics. Recently approaches also consider the services supported by such networks. In this paper we carry out a robustness analysis of five real backbone telecommunication networks under defined multiple failure scenarios, taking into account the consequences of the loss of established......Nowadays the ubiquity of telecommunication networks, which underpin and fulfill key aspects of modern day living, is taken for granted. Significant large-scale failures have occurred in the last years affecting telecommunication networks. Traditionally, network robustness analysis has been focused...... connections. Results show which networks are more robust in response to a specific type of failure....

  14. Multi-wavelength approach towards on-product overlay accuracy and robustness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhattacharyya, Kaustuve; Noot, Marc; Chang, Hammer; Liao, Sax; Chang, Ken; Gosali, Benny; Su, Eason; Wang, Cathy; den Boef, Arie; Fouquet, Christophe; Huang, Guo-Tsai; Chen, Kai-Hsiung; Cheng, Kevin; Lin, John

    2018-03-01

    Success of diffraction-based overlay (DBO) technique1,4,5 in the industry is not just for its good precision and low toolinduced shift, but also for the measurement accuracy2 and robustness that DBO can provide. Significant efforts are put in to capitalize on the potential that DBO has to address measurement accuracy and robustness. Introduction of many measurement wavelength choices (continuous wavelength) in DBO is one of the key new capabilities in this area. Along with the continuous choice of wavelengths, the algorithms (fueled by swing-curve physics) on how to use these wavelengths are of high importance for a robust recipe setup that can avoid the impact from process stack variations (symmetric as well as asymmetric). All these are discussed. Moreover, another aspect of boosting measurement accuracy and robustness is discussed that deploys the capability to combine overlay measurement data from multiple wavelength measurements. The goal is to provide a method to make overlay measurements immune from process stack variations and also to report health KPIs for every measurement. By combining measurements from multiple wavelengths, a final overlay measurement is generated. The results show a significant benefit in accuracy and robustness against process stack variation. These results are supported by both measurement data as well as simulation from many product stacks.

  15. Robust and Effective Component-based Banknote Recognition for the Blind.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hasanuzzaman, Faiz M; Yang, Xiaodong; Tian, Yingli

    2012-11-01

    We develop a novel camera-based computer vision technology to automatically recognize banknotes for assisting visually impaired people. Our banknote recognition system is robust and effective with the following features: 1) high accuracy: high true recognition rate and low false recognition rate, 2) robustness: handles a variety of currency designs and bills in various conditions, 3) high efficiency: recognizes banknotes quickly, and 4) ease of use: helps blind users to aim the target for image capture. To make the system robust to a variety of conditions including occlusion, rotation, scaling, cluttered background, illumination change, viewpoint variation, and worn or wrinkled bills, we propose a component-based framework by using Speeded Up Robust Features (SURF). Furthermore, we employ the spatial relationship of matched SURF features to detect if there is a bill in the camera view. This process largely alleviates false recognition and can guide the user to correctly aim at the bill to be recognized. The robustness and generalizability of the proposed system is evaluated on a dataset including both positive images (with U.S. banknotes) and negative images (no U.S. banknotes) collected under a variety of conditions. The proposed algorithm, achieves 100% true recognition rate and 0% false recognition rate. Our banknote recognition system is also tested by blind users.

  16. Towards a robust and consistent middle Eocene astronomical timescale

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boulila, Slah; Vahlenkamp, Maximilian; De Vleeschouwer, David; Laskar, Jacques; Yamamoto, Yuhji; Pälike, Heiko; Kirtland Turner, Sandra; Sexton, Philip F.; Westerhold, Thomas; Röhl, Ursula

    2018-03-01

    present a revision of previous astronomical timescales from the Equatorial and South Atlantic, to overcome the differences between different mid-Eocene astrochronologies. Using our new records from the North Atlantic, combined with existing records from the South Atlantic (ODP Site 1263 and Hole 702B) and Equatorial Atlantic (ODP Site 1260), we revise the durations of magnetic polarity Chrons C18n.1n to C21n, thereby arriving at a robust and self-consistent closure of the middle Eocene astronomical timescale gap.

  17. Robust EM Continual Reassessment Method in Oncology Dose Finding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuan, Ying; Yin, Guosheng

    2012-01-01

    The continual reassessment method (CRM) is a commonly used dose-finding design for phase I clinical trials. Practical applications of this method have been restricted by two limitations: (1) the requirement that the toxicity outcome needs to be observed shortly after the initiation of the treatment; and (2) the potential sensitivity to the prespecified toxicity probability at each dose. To overcome these limitations, we naturally treat the unobserved toxicity outcomes as missing data, and use the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm to estimate the dose toxicity probabilities based on the incomplete data to direct dose assignment. To enhance the robustness of the design, we propose prespecifying multiple sets of toxicity probabilities, each set corresponding to an individual CRM model. We carry out these multiple CRMs in parallel, across which model selection and model averaging procedures are used to make more robust inference. We evaluate the operating characteristics of the proposed robust EM-CRM designs through simulation studies and show that the proposed methods satisfactorily resolve both limitations of the CRM. Besides improving the MTD selection percentage, the new designs dramatically shorten the duration of the trial, and are robust to the prespecification of the toxicity probabilities. PMID:22375092

  18. Integrated direct/indirect adaptive robust motion trajectory tracking control of pneumatic cylinders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meng, Deyuan; Tao, Guoliang; Zhu, Xiaocong

    2013-09-01

    This paper studies the precision motion trajectory tracking control of a pneumatic cylinder driven by a proportional-directional control valve. An integrated direct/indirect adaptive robust controller is proposed. The controller employs a physical model based indirect-type parameter estimation to obtain reliable estimates of unknown model parameters, and utilises a robust control method with dynamic compensation type fast adaptation to attenuate the effects of parameter estimation errors, unmodelled dynamics and disturbances. Due to the use of projection mapping, the robust control law and the parameter adaption algorithm can be designed separately. Since the system model uncertainties are unmatched, the recursive backstepping technology is adopted to design the robust control law. Extensive comparative experimental results are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller and its performance robustness to parameter variations and sudden disturbances.

  19. Designing robust control-based HIV-treatment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fredy Andrés Olarte Dussán

    2008-05-01

    Full Text Available Designing a robust control-based treatment for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-infected patients was studied. The dynamics of the immune system’s response to infection was modelled using a 5th order nonlinear model with separate efficacy coefficients for protease inhibitor (PIs and reverse transcriptase inhibitors (RTIs. The immune res-ponse has been represented as an uncertain system due to errors in parameter estimation and the existence of un-modelled dynamics. A polytopic system was constructed incorporating all possible system parameter values. A con-trol system was designed using robust pole location techniques stabilising the polytopic system around an equilibrium point having a low viral load. Numerical simulation results (including the organism’s pharmacokinetical response to anti-retroviral drugs showed that the control law could lead to long-term stable conditions, even in extreme cases.

  20. Global robust stability of delayed recurrent neural networks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cao Jinde; Huang Deshuang; Qu Yuzhong

    2005-01-01

    This paper is concerned with the global robust stability of a class of delayed interval recurrent neural networks which contain time-invariant uncertain parameters whose values are unknown but bounded in given compact sets. A new sufficient condition is presented for the existence, uniqueness, and global robust stability of equilibria for interval neural networks with time delays by constructing Lyapunov functional and using matrix-norm inequality. An error is corrected in an earlier publication, and an example is given to show the effectiveness of the obtained results