SCEI: A Smart-Contract Driven Edge Intelligence Framework for IoT Systems

Federated learning (FL) utilizes edge computing devices to collaboratively train a shared model while each device can fully control its local data access. Generally, FL techniques focus on learning model on independent and identically distributed (iid) dataset and cannot achieve satisfiable performance on non-iid datasets (e.g. learning a multi-class classifier but each client only has a single class dataset). Some personalized approaches have been proposed to mitigate non-iid issues. However, such approaches cannot handle underlying data distribution shift, namely data distribution skew, which is quite common in real scenarios (e.g. recommendation systems learn user behaviors which change over time). In this work, we provide a solution to the challenge by leveraging smart-contract with federated learning to build optimized, personalized deep learning models. Specifically, our approach utilizes smart contract to reach consensus among distributed trainers on the optimal weights of personalized models. We conduct experiments across multiple models (CNN and MLP) and multiple datasets (MNIST and CIFAR-10). The experimental results demonstrate that our personalized learning models can achieve better accuracy and faster convergence compared to classic federated and personalized learning. Compared with the model given by baseline FedAvg algorithm, the average accuracy of our personalized learning models is improved by 2% to 20%, and the convergence rate is about 2$\times$ faster. Moreover, we also illustrate that our approach is secure against recent attack on distributed learning.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figure

Life-Cycle Building Carbon Emission Management Platform based on Building Information Modeling Technology

Buildings produce 40% of annual carbon emissions among various sectors in modern society. One of the most challenging problems of carbon management is how to monitor and calculate a building’s life-cycle energy consumption and carbon emission data during both construction and operation stages. The Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology provides a promising method to obtain and simulate buildings as-is status at different stages in the life cycle. This paper develops a framework for building a carbon emission management platform using the carbon emission factor method and BIM technology, which can derive corresponding carbon emission and measure carbon footprint with building geographic information to achieve precise positioning of carbon emission objects. The platform can achieve multi-role collaboration, equipment visualization, real-time carbon emission monitoring, and data analysis. The platform is applied to an existing building in Hohai University to assess the total carbon footprint of the building in its life cycle. This platform can greatly improve the calculation accuracy of the carbon footprint of buildings, improve data transparency, provide valuable information for building facility management personnel, and help achieve the goal of carbon neutrality

Algorithmic Spatial Form-Finding of Four-Fold Origami Structures Based on Mountain-Valley Assignments

AbstractOrigami has attracted tremendous attention in recent years owing to its capability of inspiring and enabling the design and development of reconfigurable structures and mechanisms for applications in various fields such as robotics and biomedical engineering. The vast majority of origami structures are folded starting from an initial two-dimensional crease pattern. However, in general, the planar configuration of such a crease pattern is in a singular state when the origami starts to fold. Such a singular state results in different motion possibilities of rigid or non-rigid folding. Thus, planar origami patterns cannot act as reliable initial configurations for further kinematic or structural analyses. To avoid the singularities of planar states and achieve reliable structural configurations during folding, we introduce a nonlinear prediction–correction method and present a spatial form-finding algorithm for four-fold origami. In this approach, first, initial nodal displacements are predicted based on the mountain-valley assignments of the given origami pattern, which are applied to vertices to form an initial spatial and defective origami model. Subsequently, corrections of nodal displacements are iteratively performed on the defective model until a satisfactory nonplanar configuration is obtained. Numerical experiments demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithm in the form-finding of both trivial and non-trivial four-fold origami tessellations. The obtained configurations can be effectively utilized for further kinematic and structural analyses. Additionally, it has been verified that corrected and nonplanar configurations are superior to initial configurations in terms of matrix distribution and structural stiffness.</jats:p

Conception de nouvelles topologies moléculaires repliées et d'un hôte foldamère photocommutable

Foldamer chemistry is a rapidly developing research area where scientists study the construction of various artificial architectures that inspired from the folded conformations of biopolyme rs found in nature. This thesis focuses on the design and construction of complex molecular topologies and switchable molecular motions. In the first part, with the helical disruptor strategy, variable sizes of macrocycles were built up (from 4 units to 12 units) based on quinolinecarboxamides derivatives (Q F ). Macrocycles adopted novel conformations which were totally different with the helical conformations of their own foldamer precursors. Those novel structures were confirmed by NMR and crystallographic studies. In the second part, a symmetrical helix sheet helix foldamer was prepared which has a bind with T shape rod. The photoreactions within aromatic sheets change the architectures of foldamer that cause dissociation of complex and release the rod. A thermal treatment would recover foldamer back to initial conformation and lead to the re formation of host guest complex. I n the third part, to build up the molecular Prusik knot, different turn units were incorporated with helix segments to form helix tur n helix foldamers. The conformations of helix turn helix architectures were well investigated, they adopted several kinds of conformations, such as cone shape, multiple helix and precursor of Prusik knot.La chimie des foldamères est un domaine de recherche en développement rapide où les scientifiques étudient la construction de diverses architectures artificielles inspirées des conformations repliées des biopolymères. Cette thèse porte sur la conception et la construction de topologies moléculaires complexes et de mouvements moléculaires commutables. Dans la pr emière partie, avec la stratégie du disrupteur hélicoïdal, des macrocycles de tailles variables ont été construits (de 4 unités à 12 unités) à base de dérivés de quinoléinecarboxamides (Q F ). Les macrocycles formés adoptent de nouvelles conformations totale ment différentes des conformations hélicoïdales de leurs précurseurs respectifs. Ces nouvelles structures ont été confirmées par RMN et études cristallographiques. Dans la deuxième partie, un foldamère hélice feuillet hélice symétrique, capable d’accueilli r une molécule invitée en forme de T, a été préparé. L’irradiation lumineuse des feuillets aromatiques modifient l’architecture du foldamère ce qui provoquent la dissociation du complexe et libèrent la molécule en forme de T. Un traitement thermique permet la reformation du complexe hôte invité. Dans la troisième partie de cette thèse, la conception d’un noeud Prusik moléculaire, basée sur un foldamère de type hélice feuillet hélice, est discutée. Les conformations des architectures hélice feuillet hélice, t elles que la forme conique, l'hélice multiple et le précurseur du noeud Prusik, ont été étudiées

Design of new molecular folded topologies and of a photoswitchable foldamer host

La chimie des foldamères est un domaine de recherche en développement rapide où les scientifiques étudient la construction de diverses architectures artificielles inspirées des conformations repliées des biopolymères. Cette thèse porte sur la conception et la construction de topologies moléculaires complexes et de mouvements moléculaires commutables. Dans la pr emière partie, avec la stratégie du disrupteur hélicoïdal, des macrocycles de tailles variables ont été construits (de 4 unités à 12 unités) à base de dérivés de quinoléinecarboxamides (Q F ). Les macrocycles formés adoptent de nouvelles conformations totale ment différentes des conformations hélicoïdales de leurs précurseurs respectifs. Ces nouvelles structures ont été confirmées par RMN et études cristallographiques. Dans la deuxième partie, un foldamère hélice feuillet hélice symétrique, capable d’accueilli r une molécule invitée en forme de T, a été préparé. L’irradiation lumineuse des feuillets aromatiques modifient l’architecture du foldamère ce qui provoquent la dissociation du complexe et libèrent la molécule en forme de T. Un traitement thermique permet la reformation du complexe hôte invité. Dans la troisième partie de cette thèse, la conception d’un noeud Prusik moléculaire, basée sur un foldamère de type hélice feuillet hélice, est discutée. Les conformations des architectures hélice feuillet hélice, t elles que la forme conique, l'hélice multiple et le précurseur du noeud Prusik, ont été étudiées.Foldamer chemistry is a rapidly developing research area where scientists study the construction of various artificial architectures that inspired from the folded conformations of biopolyme rs found in nature. This thesis focuses on the design and construction of complex molecular topologies and switchable molecular motions. In the first part, with the helical disruptor strategy, variable sizes of macrocycles were built up (from 4 units to 12 units) based on quinolinecarboxamides derivatives (Q F ). Macrocycles adopted novel conformations which were totally different with the helical conformations of their own foldamer precursors. Those novel structures were confirmed by NMR and crystallographic studies. In the second part, a symmetrical helix sheet helix foldamer was prepared which has a bind with T shape rod. The photoreactions within aromatic sheets change the architectures of foldamer that cause dissociation of complex and release the rod. A thermal treatment would recover foldamer back to initial conformation and lead to the re formation of host guest complex. I n the third part, to build up the molecular Prusik knot, different turn units were incorporated with helix segments to form helix tur n helix foldamers. The conformations of helix turn helix architectures were well investigated, they adopted several kinds of conformations, such as cone shape, multiple helix and precursor of Prusik knot

Investigation of microscopic pore structure variations of shale due to hydration effects through SEM fixed-point observation experiments

This paper conducted the shale hydration experiments by using four different types of shale outcrop samples. The microscopic pore structure variations before and after hydration were recorded, compared and analyzed through Field Emission Scanned Electronic Microscope (FESEM) with fixed-point observation technique. The results showed that higher content of montmorillonite and carbonate minerals would contribute to the form of dissolution pores and looseness of mineral grains; some critical factors also include original alignment and cementation of mineral grains, and distribution of natural microfractures. Hydration doesn't change the organic pore structure. Almost all dissolution pores originated from mineral intergranular and intragranular pores in matrix, and the dissolution of matrix pores also lead to mineral particles to loose and fall off. When the mineral grains are aligned and compacted along with the bedding-parallel planes, the density of dissolution pores and the number of dissolution pores of small size in bedding-vertical specimens are usually larger than that in bedding-parallel specimens. For the shale samples with few natural microfractures, carbonate minerals may contribute to the generation and propagation of microfractures during hydration. Key words: shale, hydration, microscopic pore structure, mineral component, fixed-point observatio

Fog Computing Meets URLLC: Energy Minimization of Task Partial Offloading for URLLC Services

Ultra-high reliability and ultra-low latency communication (URLLC) are critical challenges for upcoming 6G applications. Cloud computing and mobile edge computing (MEC) offer potential solutions but incur high deployment and maintenance costs due to reliance on central or edge servers. Moreover, the surge in users and data exacerbates latency concerns. Therefore, with more flexible servers deployment, fog computing is more capable of URLLC requirements. In this work, we propose a fog computing model utilizing mobile devices&#x2019; computing capabilities to mitigate latency delays. We characterise the problem as an optimisation problem in quadratic variables. And we reduce the problem to a mixed integer convex optimisation problem in two dimensions using decomposition subproblems. Based on this, we introduce a partial offloading algorithm based on the finite blocklength (FBL) mechanism, which improves the energy efficiency. Simulations demonstrate the efficiency of our algorithm in URLLC, with a 49% reduction in energy consumption compared to no retransmission and a 36% reduction in energy consumption compared to infinite blocklength (IBL) coding

A Surrogate-Assisted Adaptive Bat Algorithm for Large-Scale Economic Dispatch

Large-scale grids have gradually become the dominant trend in power systems, which has increased the importance of solving the challenges associated with large-scale economic dispatch (LED). An increase in the number of decision variables enlarges the search-space scale in LED. In addition to increasing the difficulty of solving algorithms, huge amounts of computing resources are consumed. To overcome this problem, we proposed a surrogate-assisted adaptive bat algorithm (GARCBA). On the one hand, to reduce the execution time of LED problems, we proposed a generalized regression neural network surrogate model based on a self-adaptive “minimizing the predictor” sampling strategy, which replaces the original fuel cost functions with a shorter computing time. On the other hand, we also proposed an improved hybrid bat algorithm (RCBA) named GARCBA to execute LED optimization problems. Specifically, we developed an evolutionary state evaluation (ESE) method to increase the performance of the original RCBA. Moreover, we introduced the ESE to analyze the population distribution, fitness, and effective radius of the random black hole in the original RCBA. We achieved a substantial improvement in computational time, accuracy, and convergence when using the GARCBA to solve LED problems, and we demonstrated this method’s effectiveness with three sets of simulations

Intelligent computational design of scalene-faceted flat-foldable tessellations

Abstract Origami tessellations can be folded from a given planar pattern into a three-dimensional object with specific geometric properties, inspiring developments in various fields of science and engineering such as deployable structures, energy absorption devices, reconfigurable robots, and metamaterials. However, the range of existing origami patterns with functional properties such as flat-foldability is rather scant, as analytical solutions to constraint equations arising in the design process are generally highly complicated. In this paper, we tackle the challenging problem of automated design of scalene-faceted flat-foldable origami tessellations using an efficient metaheuristic algorithm. To this end, this study establishes constraint curves based on compatibility conditions for all six-fold (i.e., degree-6) vertices. Subsequently, a graphical method and a particle swarm optimization (PSO) method are adopted to produce optimal origami patterns. Moreover, mountain-valley assignments for the obtained geometric designs are determined using a computational approach based on mixed-integer linear programming. It turns out that the flat-foldable internal vertices of each C2-symmetric unit fragment (UF) exist as C2-symmetric pairs about the centroid of the UF. Furthermore, numerical experiments are carried out to examine the feasibility and compare the accuracy, computational efficiency, and global convergence of the proposed methods. The results of numerical experiments demonstrated that, in comparison with the graphical method, the proposed PSO method has not only a higher accuracy but also a significantly lower computational cost, enabling us to develop an intelligent computational platform to efficiently design scalene-faceted flat-foldable origami tessellations.</jats:p

A symmetric substructuring method for analyzing the natural frequencies of conical origami structures

Conical origami structures are characterized by their substantial out-of-plane stiffness and energy-absorption capacity. Previous investigations have commonly focused on the static characteristics of these lightweight structures. However, the efficient analysis of the natural vibrations of these structures is pivotal for designing conical origami structures with programmable stiffness and mass. In this paper, we propose a novel method to analyze the natural vibrations of such structures by combining a symmetric substructuring method (SSM) and a generalized eigenvalue analysis. SSM exploits the inherent symmetry of the structure to decompose it into a finite set of repetitive substructures. In doing so, we reduce the dimensions of matrices and improve computational efficiency by adopting the stiffness and mass matrices of the substructures in the generalized eigenvalue analysis. Finite element simulations of pin-jointed models are used to validate the computational results of the proposed approach. Moreover, the parametric analysis of the structures demonstrates the influences of the number of segments along the circumference and the radius of the cone on the structural mass and natural frequencies of the structures. Furthermore, we present a comparison between six-fold and four-fold conical origami structures and discuss the influence of various geometric parameters on their natural frequencies. This study provides a strategy for efficiently analyzing the natural vibration of symmetric origami structures and has the potential to contribute to the efficient design and customization of origami metastructures with programmable stiffness