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In the first part of this research, we propose two hybrid topologies named k-Cube k-Ary n-Tree (CAT) and Mirrored k-Cube k-Ary n-Tree (MiCAT), based on fat-trees and hypercubes. We evaluate the path diversity, cost, performance, and average packet latency of CAT and MiCAT. The results show that CAT and MiCAT can save up to 87% switches and 80% links in a large-scale parallel system, for example, if k = n = 8, compared to fat-trees, and meanwhile, both CAT and MiCAT have higher path diversities than fat-trees. The second part gives four link fault tolerant routing algorithms in Mirrored k-ary n-tree (MiKANT) interconnection networks and evaluates their performance through simulations. In addition, the performance of the combined algorithms is also evaluated.

Silicon extraction from rice straw (RS) has gained attention due to its increasing demand for various applications. This study investigated the potential for producing bio-silica from RS digestates, and RS leached with agro-industrial waste, such as corn-steep liquor (CSTL) and cassava-steep wastewater (CSWW). The results indicated that pretreated (PT) and digested methanogenic RS ash (RSA) samples contain amorphous silica, as confirmed by SEM, EDX and XRD analysis. The EDX results showed high levels of silica with minimal inorganic elements, while the XRD showed that the RSA from methanogenic reactors contained amorphous silica, indicated by a broad peak at 2Ɵ ranging from 160 to 280. The leaching potential of CSTL and CSWW was confirmed through SEM and EDX, with the XRD results indicating that CSWW was a more effective leaching agent than CSTL. The CSWW-leached RSA samples showed slight amorphousness with a broad peak at 2Ɵ between 160 and 250.

Pedestrian Attribute Recognition (PAR) is a challenging task in intelligent video surveillance. Two key challenges in PAR include complex alignment relations between images and attributes, and imbalanced data distribution. Existing approaches usually formulate PAR as a recognition task. Different from them, this paper addresses it as a decision-making task via a reinforcement learning framework. Specifically, PAR is formulated as a Markov decision process (MDP) by designing ingenious states, action space, reward function and state transition. To alleviate the inter-attribute imbalance problem, we apply an Attribute Grouping Strategy (AGS) by dividing all attributes into subgroups according to their region and category information. Then we employ an agent to recognize each group of attributes, which is trained with Deep Q-learning algorithm. We also propose a Group Optimization Reward (GOR) function to alleviate the intra-attribute imbalance problem. Experimental results on the three benchmark datasets of PETA, RAP and PA100K illustrate the effectiveness and competitiveness of the proposed approach and demonstrate that the application of reinforcement learning to PAR is a valuable research direction.

Pale, soft, and exudative (PSE) meat can cause consumer dissatisfaction and economic losses. This study determined meat quality, glycolytic enzyme activity, and differential gene expression in the longissimus lumborum (LL) and semimembranosus (SM) of normal and PSE pork carcasses. The SM did not result in PSE meat. Hexokinase, lactate dehydrogenase, and pyruvate kinase activities were lower in the SM of PSE carcasses than in the normal carcasses. Functional enrichment analysis revealed that immune, inflammatory, and muscle fibre genes were significantly enriched in PSE pork. More specifically, PPP1R3G and MSS51 may be key genes regulating pork quality in the SM. Meanwhile, the differential expression of PLVAB, ADIPOQ, LEP, MYH4, MYH7, MYL3, MYL6B, FOS, ATF3, and HSPA6 may induce PSE formation in the LL. These results may provide insights into PSE pork formation mechanisms and reveal candidate genes for improving meat quality after validation.

This paper proposes a path planning algorithm based on the whale algorithm, which when used with A* algorithm can effectively control path-finding progress. The algorithm introduces the Bezier curve, the algorithm can better describe the curve path between two points, to replace the logarithmic spiral in the spiral update part of the original whale algorithm. In addition, temporarily changing target point put the path planned by the algorithm far away from the shortest path, and appropriately surrounds the target point. This paper’s research object is the monster path-finding problem in horror games, and realizes the controllable non-shortest path planning under the special path environment. The algorithm planning result has better performance than the path planned by the A* algorithm.

The initial iterative control signal is often adopted a zero or a certain value in the conventional iterative learning control (ILC) system, and an ILC process needs to renew again as long as the desired trajectory is changed. In this paper, the NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines) model is used for describing all trajectory primitives and the desired trajectory. It is studied that the problem of the initial iterative control signal is extracted in ILC, which presents a method of extracting the initial iterative control signal based on the trajectory primitive optimal matching and combining algorithm. Firstly, the definition of the similarity index between the two different spacial trajectories is introduced. Secondly, an optimal matching and combining algorithm is designed under a certain similarity index, which is used to find two or more combined primitive sequences with space patterns similar to the desired trajectory. Thirdly, the initial iterative control signals of the desired trajectory are extracted by using the control information of the combined primitive sequences. Finally, the simulation is carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the present method.

Thermal characteristics such as thermal conductivity, permeability, and sorption kinetics, which determines the overall sorbent performance, play as the critical roles in the sorption refrigeration system. In this paper, composite strontium chloride (SrCl2) developed with a host matrix of Expanded Natural Graphite (ENG) has been comprehensively investigated under different densities and mass ratios of salt. Results indicate that the composite sorbent has overall good heat and mass transfer performance. The highest thermal conductivity is 3.07 W/(m.K), which is 15 times higher than normal granular SrCl2. The permeability of composite sorbent ranges from 9.5 × 10−10 to 9.36 × 10−14 m2. Sorption performance of composite SrCl2 has also been tested, and the results showed that for the sorption amount ranged between 400 and 700 (g/kg SrCl2) ammonia at 40 min in the adsorption process. These quantitative results obtained from this study can be used as crucial parameters to conduct the simulation modelling for the SrCl2-ENG sorption system.

Over 90% of global yam production is from West Africa where it provides food and income for above 300 million smallholders’ farmers. However, the major challenge of yam is 10–40% post-harvest losses due to the lack of appropriate storage facilities. This paper assesses a biogas-driven cogeneration system, which could supply electricity and cold storage for ‘yam bank’ within a rural community. Considering 200 households’ Nigerian village as a case study, crop residues are used as anaerobic digestion feedstock to produce biogas, which is subsequently used to power an internal combustion engine. Result shows that the system could store 3.6 tonnes of yam tubers each year and provide enough electricity for domestic and commercial activities. At the current electricity tariff of USD0.013·kWh−1 for rural areas, the system is unable to payback during its life span. The proposed USD0.42·kWh−1 by Nigerian Rural Electrification Agency seems good with less than 3 years discounted payback period but brings about extra burden on poor rural households. Based on the income from cold storage, electricity tariff of USD0.105·kWh−1 with an interest rate of 4% is suggested to be reasonable which results in 6.84 years discounted payback period especially considering non-monetary benefits of renewable energy system.

Document-based collaborative design is a common method in the process of telecommunication satellite development. The technical parameters are distributed in a large number of documents, so the parameters are relatively isolated and there is no unified design platform. Therefore, this method has several deficiencies in the efficiency and traceability of collaborative design, and it is hard to realize the homology, reusability and version control of data. This paper presents a collaborative design method which is driven by structured parameters and can support a fast and efficient design iteration. Transform the parameters from unstructured to structured ones based on the XML technology. XML is used as the parameters carrier, and then establish the mapping relation of the parameters. A collaborative design platform is constructed, and based on the mapping relation of the parameters, the satellite development process is decomposed into tasks, and the design process is driven and iterated by the automatic mapping of parameters. Finally, we developed the collaborative design platform based on the 3D EXPERIENCE of Dassault Systems and ran an example of satellite project design, the result shows that the structured data-based method can effectively solve the problems of documents-based method, therefore it can enhance the efficiency and quality of satellite design.

This study reports the development and experimental investigation on a novel chemisorption composite material by adding Carbon coated Ni into SrCl2-NEG. The manufacture processes on this novel material has been developed in order to control the evenly distribution of the Nano particles inside the composite. The sorption performance of the novel chemisorption composite using ammonia as the working fluid was experimentally tested and compared with the performance of conventional chemisorption composite without adding Carbon coated Ni. Results pointed out that compared with conventional chemisorption one (SrCl2/NEG) this novel developed composite requires less heat source energy but has relatively lower mass transfer performance. The overall efficiency of an adsorption system using this novel chemisorption composite as the adsorbent could be potentially improved and the overall cycle time can be reduced.

Portfolio selection is the central task for assets management, but it turns out to be very challenging. Methods based on pattern matching, particularly the CORN-K algorithm, have achieved promising performance on several stock markets. A key shortage of the existing pattern matching methods, however, is that the risk is largely ignored when optimizing portfolios, which may lead to unreliable profits, particularly in volatile markets. We present a risk-aversion CORN-K algorithm, RACORN-K, that penalizes risk when searching for optimal portfolios. Experiments on four datasets (DJIA, MSCI, SP500(N), HSI) demonstrate that the new algorithm can deliver notable and reliable improvements in terms of return, Sharp ratio and maximum drawdown, especially on volatile markets.

Novel composite sorbents are developed. Strontium chloride (SrCl2) is selected whereas expanded natural graphite and nanoparticle i.e. carbon coated nickel are integrated as the additive with different densities for the better heat transfer and sorption performance. Thermal properties such as thermal diffusivity and conductivity are investigated by the laser flash method. The sorption performance is tested by the unit which is especially designed. It is indicated that the highest thermal diffusivity could reach 2.242 mm2 ·s-1 when the density is 1000 kg·m-3 and testing temperature is 20 °C. For different testing temperature and density, the thermal diffusivity range from 1.3 mm2·s-1 to 2.242 mm2·s-1. Also worth noting that the highest thermal conductivity could reach 2.5 mm2 ·s-1 for the environmental temperature. One paramount factor i.e. the global conversion rate of the novel composite SrCl2 is compared and analyzed under different working conditions. It can be found that the higher desorption temperature results in the faster variation of the global conversion rate. In addition, It takes about 15 minutes and 40 minutes to finish the reaction SrCl2 8-1 and 1-0 when the desorption temperature is 180 °C and 130 °C, respectively. For sorption process, it is indicated that the global conversion rate varies faster with the increase of the sorption temperature. When the global conversion is 0.7, it takes about 14 to 28 minutes when sorption temperature range from -5 °C to 15 °C.

This research experimentally investigated the impact of adding Carbon Coated Nickel and Carbon Coated Aluminium on the sorption performance of conventional Strontium Chloride-Natural Expanded Graphite (SrCl2-NEG) chemisorption composite. In order to evenly distribute Nano particles into the material, manufacture methodology is developed and reported. In this study, experiments were set for testing the sorption performance of applying novel Ni/Al-additive adsorbent with the working fluid of ammonia. Compared with that of SrCl2-NEG, Ni-additive adsorbent improves the comprehensive heat and mass transfer performance as it reacted faster in both adsorption tests and low temperature desorption tests. By adopting Carbon coated Ni into the chemisorption composite, the overall sorption cycle time and require relatively lower energy for sorption cycles. While Al-additive adsorbent only improves the reaction speed in low temperature desorption tests, and may be applied in negative catalyser for its bad behaviour in adsorption performance tests. This paper reveals that adding Carbon Coated Nickel into conventional chemisorption composite would provide a potential way for improving the overall efficiency of an adsorption system and reducing the overall sorption cycle time.

To date, the role of metabotropic glutamate receptor 3 (GRM3) rs274622, rs1468412, rs917071, rs6465084, and rs2299225 polymorphisms in schizophrenia remains controversial. To provide a clearer picture for the effect of the five most studied GRM3 polymorphisms on risk of schizophrenia, this meta-analysis with eligible data from published studies was performed. Relevant case-control studies were retrieved by literature search and selected according to established inclusion criteria. Odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were used to assess the strength of association. A total of 33 individual studies were identified and included in our meta-analysis: nine for rs1468412, with 5,314 cases and 6,147 controls; six for rs917071, with 2,660 cases and 3,517 controls; seven for rs274622, with 3,820 cases and 4,015 controls; five for rs2299225, with 3,492 cases and 3,735 controls; and six for rs6465084, with 4,960 cases and 5,613 controls. However, no significant association was found between these GRM3 polymorphisms and schizophrenia in the overall population. With respect to rs1468412 polymorphism, a finding of very borderline statistical significance emerged in dominant comparison model for non-Asian populations, calling for large-scale verification to assess the marginally elevated risk of schizophrenia. In conclusion, these GRM3 polymorphisms have limited effect on the risks of schizophrenia. Further large and well-designed studies are needed to confirm this conclusion.

A novel integration of chemisorption refrigeration cycle and a scroll expander was investigated for the cogeneration of cooling and electric power. The first lab prototype machine has been built, and the two main components were tested both independently and cooperatively for comparison before and after the integration therefore leading to better knowledge of the interaction between them. Two sets of adsorption cycles utilizing the adsorbent compound of calcium chloride and activated carbon worked out-of-phase for the output continuity, and mass recovery was applied to further elevate the performance. In the cogeneration test, the cooling temperature reached 5.4 °C as minimum, while the generated electric power achieved the maximum value of 490 W. The valuable experience and the inspiration on system optimization has been reaped and discussed through this exploration.

With the development of information technology and the coming of the internet of things, traffic signal control has brought new opportunities and challenges. This paper presents a method of traffic network signal control, which used to optimize traffic signal timing, reduce the delay of vehicles within the network. The method is divided into two levels: intersection control level and network control level. Intersection control level uses a dynamic programming based adaptive algorithm. Network control level uses an optimization algorithm based on conflict decision tree, using the A∗ algorithm, rolling optimization and feedback control strategies to enhance the real-time, reliability and robustness of the algorithm. The effectiveness of the system has evaluated through an actual traffics network simulation conducted with VISSIM. Results show that the proposed method is significantly better than the time-of-day method in travel time, average delay and other parameters.

Mercury (Hg) pollution is a global environmental problem. Numerous Hg-contaminated sites exist in the world and new techniques for remediation are urgently needed. Phytoremediation, use of plants to remove pollutants from the environment or to render them harmless, is considered as an environment-friendly method to remediate contaminated soil in-situ and has been applied for some other heavy metals. Whether this approach is suitable for remediation of Hg-contaminated soil is, however, an open question. The aim of this thesis was to study the fate of Hg in terrestrial plants (particularly the high biomass producing willow, Salix spp.) and thus to clarify the potential use of plants to remediate Hg-contaminated soils. Plants used for phytoremediation of Hg must tolerate Hg. A large variation (up to 30-fold difference) was detected among the six investigated clones of willow in their sensitivity to Hg as reflected in their empirical toxicity threshold (TT95b), the maximum unit toxicity (UTmax) and EC50 levels. This gives us a possibility to select Hg-tolerant willow clones to successfully grow in Hgcontaminated soils for phytoremediation. Release of Hg into air by plants is a concern when using phytoremediation in practice. No evidence was found in this study that Hg was released to the air via shoots of willow, garden pea (Pisum sativum L. cv Faenomen), spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv Dragon), sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L. cv Monohill), oil-seed rape (Brassica napus L. cv Paroll) and white clover (Trifolium repens L.). Thus, we conclude that the Hg burden to the atmosphere via phytoremediation is not increased. Phytoremediation processes are based on the ability of plant roots to accumulate Hg and to translocate it to the shoots. Willow roots were shown to be able to efficiently accumulate Hg in hydroponics, however, no variation in the ability to accumulate was found among the eight willow clones using CVAAS to analyze Hg content in plants. The majority of the Hg accumulated remained in the roots and only 0.5-0.6% of the Hg accumulation was translocated to the shoots. Similar results were found for the five common cultivated plant species mentioned above. Moreover, the accumulation of Hg in willow was higher when being cultivated in methyl-Hg solution than in inorganic Hg solution, whereas the translocation of Hg to the shoots did not differ. The low bioavailability of Hg in contaminated soil is a restricting factor for the phytoextraction of Hg. A selected tolerant willow clone was used to study whether iodide addition could increase the plant-accumulation of Hg from contaminated soil. Both pot tests and field trials were carried out. Potassium iodide (KI) addition was found to mobilize Hg in contaminated soil and thus increase the bioavailability of Hg in soils. Addition of KI (0.2–1 mM) increased the Hg concentrations up to about 5, 3 and 8 times in the leaves, branches and roots, respectively. However, too high concentrations of KI were toxic to plants. As the majority of the Hg accumulated in the roots, it might be unrealistic to use willow for phytoextraction of Hg in practice, even though iodide could enhance the phytoextraction efficiency. In order to study the effect of willow on various soil fractions of Hg-contaminated soil, a 5-step sequential soil extraction method was used. Both the largest Hg-contaminated fractions, i.e. the Hg bound to residual organic matter (53%) and sulphides (43%), and the residual fraction (2.5%), were found to remain stable during cultivations of willow. The exchangeable Hg (0.1%) and the Hg bound to humic and fulvic acids (1.1%) decreased in the rhizospheric soil, whereas the plant accumulation of Hg increased with the cultivation time. The sum of the decrease of the two Hg fractions in soils was approximately equal to the amount of the Hg accumulated in plants. Consequently, plants may be suitable for phytostabilization of aged Hg-contaminated soil, in which root systems trap the bioavailable Hg and reduce the leakage of Hg from contaminated soils.