Hybrid Advanced Optimization Methods with Evolutionary Computation Techniques in Energy Forecasting

More accurate and precise energy demand forecasts are required when energy decisions are made in a competitive environment. Particularly in the Big Data era, forecasting models are always based on a complex function combination, and energy data are always complicated. Examples include seasonality, cyclicity, fluctuation, dynamic nonlinearity, and so on. These forecasting models have resulted in an over-reliance on the use of informal judgment and higher expenses when lacking the ability to determine data characteristics and patterns. The hybridization of optimization methods and superior evolutionary algorithms can provide important improvements via good parameter determinations in the optimization process, which is of great assistance to actions taken by energy decision-makers. This book aimed to attract researchers with an interest in the research areas described above. Specifically, it sought contributions to the development of any hybrid optimization methods (e.g., quadratic programming techniques, chaotic mapping, fuzzy inference theory, quantum computing, etc.) with advanced algorithms (e.g., genetic algorithms, ant colony optimization, particle swarm optimization algorithm, etc.) that have superior capabilities over the traditional optimization approaches to overcome some embedded drawbacks, and the application of these advanced hybrid approaches to significantly improve forecasting accuracy

Coordinated Multicasting with Opportunistic User Selection in Multicell Wireless Systems

Physical layer multicasting with opportunistic user selection (OUS) is examined for multicell multi-antenna wireless systems. By adopting a two-layer encoding scheme, a rate-adaptive channel code is applied in each fading block to enable successful decoding by a chosen subset of users (which varies over different blocks) and an application layer erasure code is employed across multiple blocks to ensure that every user is able to recover the message after decoding successfully in a sufficient number of blocks. The transmit signal and code-rate in each block determine opportunistically the subset of users that are able to successfully decode and can be chosen to maximize the long-term multicast efficiency. The employment of OUS not only helps avoid rate-limitations caused by the user with the worst channel, but also helps coordinate interference among different cells and multicast groups. In this work, efficient algorithms are proposed for the design of the transmit covariance matrices, the physical layer code-rates, and the target user subsets in each block. In the single group scenario, the system parameters are determined by maximizing the group-rate, defined as the physical layer code-rate times the fraction of users that can successfully decode in each block. In the multi-group scenario, the system parameters are determined by considering a group-rate balancing optimization problem, which is solved by a successive convex approximation (SCA) approach. To further reduce the feedback overhead, we also consider the case where only part of the users feed back their channel vectors in each block and propose a design based on the balancing of the expected group-rates. In addition to SCA, a sample average approximation technique is also introduced to handle the probabilistic terms arising in this problem. The effectiveness of the proposed schemes is demonstrated by computer simulations.Comment: Accepted by IEEE Transactions on Signal Processin

U-series dating and isotope geochemical study of the Gellért Hill (Budapest) travertine

Abstract Travertine is quite a common formation in the area of Budapest (Hungary) indicating strong hydrothermal activity during the Pliocene and Quaternary. It covers former terraces of the Danube River and older geomorphologic horizons; thus, it is an important archive to date fluvial terraces and tectonic movements. Despite numerous investigations performed on these deposits, only few radiometric data are available so far and the absence of the exact timing information hindered paleoclimatic interpretation. The area of Gellért Hill consists mainly of Upper Triassic dolomite, but Quaternary travertine can also be found. In this study a detailed petrographic and stable isotope geochemical study of four travertine sites (1. Ifjúsági Park; 2. Számadó u. (Street); 3. Kelenhegyi u. (Street); 4. Somlói u. (Street)) of the Gellért Hill area is presented, along with analyses on the recent carbonate deposits of Gellért Hill and Sárosfürdő. The travertine of Ifjúsági Park and Számadó u. are spring cone deposits, while the travertine of the Kelenhegyi u. represents a shallow-water depositional environment. Based on the paleontological studies of Jánossy (in Scheuer and Schweitzer, 1988) the Gellért Hill travertine was thought to have been formed during the Lower Pleistocene; however, no radiometric age dating had been performed on these deposits prior our study. Our U/Th analyses yielded ages of 250±44 ky for the Ifjúsági Park travertine (220 m asl) and 180±49 ky for the Számadó u. travertine (195 m asl). These new U/Th ages are in contradiction with the previously assumed Lower Pleistocene age, implying gradual relative decrease in the paleokarst water-level and proving that the elevation of the individual travertine deposits not necessarily show their relative age. The uplift rates of Gellért Hill calculated from the U/Th age data and elevation of travertine occurrences range between 0.47 and 0.52 mm/yr, which is significantly higher than the uplift rates calculated for the Rózsadomb area (0.20 0.25 mm/yr; Kele et al., submitted). The difference in the incision rates between the individual sub-areas suggests that selective uplift was characteristic for the Buda Hills during the Middle Pleistocene; thus, up-scaling reconstruction of paleokarst waterlevel for the whole area from a given locality is not possible. Oxygen isotope analyses of recent carbonate deposits of Gellért Hill, Sárosfürdő and Rudas Spa revealed that these calcites precipitated under non-equilibrium conditions, and the measured calcitewater oxygen isotope fractionation show the same positive shift relative to “equilibrium values” as was observed in the case of the recently-forming Egerszalók travertine (Kele et al. 2008). Assuming that the water of the paleo-springs of Gellért Hill derived from precipitation infiltrated during interstadial periods of the Pleistocene and considering non-equilibrium deposition (i.e. using the empirical calcite-water oxygen isotope fractionation of Kele et al. 2008), their calculated paleotemperature could range between 22 (±4) °C and 49 (±6) °C. Based on the δ18Otravertine differences the Ifjúsági Park and the Számadó u. spring cone type travertine was deposited from the highest temperature water, while from the lowest temperature water the travertine of Kelenhegyi u. was formed

Persistent termini of 2004- and 2005-like ruptures of the Sunda megathrust

To gain insight into the longevity of subduction zone segmentation, we use coral microatolls to examine an 1100-year record of large earthquakes across the boundary of the great 2004 and 2005 Sunda megathrust ruptures. Simeulue, a 100-km-long island off the west coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia, straddles this boundary: northern Simeulue was uplifted in the 2004 earthquake, whereas southern Simeulue rose in 2005. Northern Simeulue corals reveal that predecessors of the 2004 earthquake occurred in the 10th century AD, in AD 1394 ± 2, and in AD 1450 ± 3. Corals from southern Simeulue indicate that none of the major uplifts inferred on northern Simeulue in the past 1100 years extended to southern Simeulue. The two largest uplifts recognized at a south-central Simeulue site—around AD 1422 and in 2005—involved little or no uplift of northern Simeulue. The distribution of uplift and strong shaking during a historical earthquake in 1861 suggests the 1861 rupture area was also restricted to south of central Simeulue, as in 2005. The strikingly different histories of the two adjacent patches demonstrate that this boundary has persisted as an impediment to rupture through at least seven earthquakes in the past 1100 years. This implies that the rupture lengths, and hence sizes, of at least some future great earthquakes and tsunamis can be forecast. These microatolls also provide insight into megathrust behavior between earthquakes, revealing sudden and substantial changes in interseismic strain accumulation rates

Fabrication of Antireflection Nanodiamond Particle Film by the Spin Coating Deposition Technique

Diamond-based antireflective (AR) coatings were fabricated using a spin coating of diamond suspension at room temperature as nucleation enhancement procedure and microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition. Various working pressures were used to investigate their effect on the optical characterization of the as-deposited diamond films. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic forced microscopy (AFM) were employed to analyze the surface properties of the diamond films. Raman spectra and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) also were used for analysis of the microstructure of the films. The results showed that working pressure had a significant effect on thickness, surface roughness, and wettability of the as-deposited diamond films. Deposited under 35 Torr or working pressure, the film possessed a low surface roughness of 13.8 nm and fine diamond grain sizes of 35 nm. Reflectance measurements of the films also were carried out using UV-Vis spectrometer and revealed a low reflectance value of the diamond films. The achievement demonstrated feasibility of the proposed spin-coating procedure for large scale production and thus opens up a prospect application of diamond film as an AR coating in industrial optoelectronic device