Development of a Design for Manufacturing Tool for Automated Fiber Placement Structures

Existing design processes for laminates constructed with automated fiber placement lack significant integration between the various software tools that compose the process. Tools for finite element analysis, computer aided drafting, stress analysis, tool path simulation, and manufacturing defect prediction are all critical parts of the design process. With traditional hand-layup laminates, the analysis performed with each of these tools could be fairly well decoupled from one another. However, for laminates generated by automated fiber placement, the disciplines can become significantly coupled, especially on structures with curvature. This gives rise to a need for integrated design for manufacturing software tools that are able to balance the competing objectives from each discipline. This paper describes the preliminary development of such a tool

Evolutionary Approaches to Optimization Problems in Chimera Topologies

Chimera graphs define the topology of one of the first commercially available quantum computers. A variety of optimization problems have been mapped to this topology to evaluate the behavior of quantum enhanced optimization heuristics in relation to other optimizers, being able to efficiently solve problems classically to use them as benchmarks for quantum machines. In this paper we investigate for the first time the use of Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs) on Ising spin glass instances defined on the Chimera topology. Three genetic algorithms (GAs) and three estimation of distribution algorithms (EDAs) are evaluated over $1000$ hard instances of the Ising spin glass constructed from Sidon sets. We focus on determining whether the information about the topology of the graph can be used to improve the results of EAs and on identifying the characteristics of the Ising instances that influence the success rate of GAs and EDAs.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, 3 table

Physical Activity Training for Functional Mobility in Older Persons

The effectiveness of low-intensity physical activity for improving functional ability and psycho logical well-being in chronically impaired older individuals was demonstrated in a pilot study. Participants who completed 6 weeks of structured low-intensity exercise (N = 77) improved in the time and number of steps required to walk a measured course, in self-assessments of mobility and flexibility, and in three measures of well-being. Those who continued to exercise in a peer-led program (n = 32) maintained improvements in mobility and optimism after 18 weeks.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68101/2/10.1177_073346489501400401.pd

Digging into acceptor splice site prediction : an iterative feature selection approach

Feature selection techniques are often used to reduce data dimensionality, increase classification performance, and gain insight into the processes that generated the data. In this paper, we describe an iterative procedure of feature selection and feature construction steps, improving the classification of acceptor splice sites, an important subtask of gene prediction. We show that acceptor prediction can benefit from feature selection, and describe how feature selection techniques can be used to gain new insights in the classification of acceptor sites. This is illustrated by the identification of a new, biologically motivated feature: the AG-scanning feature. The results described in this paper contribute both to the domain of gene prediction, and to research in feature selection techniques, describing a new wrapper based feature weighting method that aids in knowledge discovery when dealing with complex datasets

The International Space Station Solar Alpha Rotary Joint Anomaly Investigation

The Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ) is a single-axis pointing mechanism used to orient the solar power generating arrays relative to the sun for the International Space Station (ISS). Approximately 83 days after its on-orbit installation, one of the two SARJ mechanisms aboard the ISS began to exhibit high drive motor current draw. Increased structural vibrations near the joint were also observed. Subsequent inspections via Extravehicular Activity (EVA) discovered that the nitrided case hardened steel bearing race on the outboard side of the joint had extensive damage to one of its three rolling surfaces. A far-reaching investigation of the anomaly was undertaken. The investigation included metallurgical inspections, coupon tests, traction kinematics tests, detailed bearing measurements, and thermal and structural analyses. The results of the investigation showed that anomaly had most probably been caused by high bearing edge stresses that resulted from inadequate lubrication of the rolling contact. The profile of the roller bearings and the metallurgical properties of the race ring were also found to be significant contributing factors. To mitigate the impact of the damage astronauts cleaned and lubricated the race ring surface with grease. This corrective action led to significantly improved performance of the mechanism both in terms of drive motor current and induced structural vibration

An analysis of the local optima storage capacity of Hopfield network based fitness function models

A Hopfield Neural Network (HNN) with a new weight update rule can be treated as a second order Estimation of Distribution Algorithm (EDA) or Fitness Function Model (FFM) for solving optimisation problems. The HNN models promising solutions and has a capacity for storing a certain number of local optima as low energy attractors. Solutions are generated by sampling the patterns stored in the attractors. The number of attractors a network can store (its capacity) has an impact on solution diversity and, consequently solution quality. This paper introduces two new HNN learning rules and presents the Hopfield EDA (HEDA), which learns weight values from samples of the fitness function. It investigates the attractor storage capacity of the HEDA and shows it to be equal to that known in the literature for a standard HNN. The relationship between HEDA capacity and linkage order is also investigated

Runtime Analysis of Probabilistic Crowding and Restricted Tournament Selection for Bimodal Optimisation

Many real optimisation problems lead to multimodal domains and so require the identifi- cation of multiple optima. Niching methods have been developed to maintain the population diversity, to investigate many peaks in parallel and to reduce the effect of genetic drift. Using rigorous runtime analysis, we analyse for the first time two well known niching methods: probabilistic crowding and restricted tournament selection (RTS). We incorporate both methods into a (µ+1) EA on the bimodal function Twomax where the goal is to find two optima at opposite ends of the search space. In probabilistic crowding, the offspring compete with their parents and the survivor is chosen proportionally to its fitness. On Twomax probabilistic crowding fails to find any reasonable solution quality even in exponential time. In RTS the offspring compete against the closest individual amongst w (window size) individuals. We prove that RTS fails if w is too small, leading to exponential times with high probability. However, if w is chosen large enough, it finds both optima for Twomax in time O(µn log n) with high probability. Our theoretical results are accompanied by experimental studies that match the theoretical results and also shed light on parameters not covered by the theoretical results

Religious Fundamentalism as an Obstacle to Peace in the Middle East: Under What Conditions Might Pragmatism Prevail?

Religious fundamentalists have in several instances served as barriers to the peaceful conclusion of disputes in the Middle East, especially in the framework of the peace process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As a consequence and irrespective of the specific definition of fundamentalism, these groups can constitute in various countries a substantial hurdle for any arms control initiative such as the upcoming Middle East Conference (MEC). This gathering is to deal with the establishment of a zone free of all kinds of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their delivery vehicles (DVs). Achieving a successful and sustainable outcome at the MEC could be hampered by a host of problems, one of which is the diffi cult role that religious fundamentalism could possibly play in undermining this initiative. Hence, this POLICY BRIEF provides decision makers and practitioners with information on these presumably ‘negative’ actors, drawn from case studies covering various fundamentalist groups within the Middle East and beyond. These recommendations are based on the key finding that, contrary to mainstream expectations, the major players can behave pragmatically, provided they are acting in favorable circumstances