ALBERT

Description: This paper proposes a multi-sensory Joint Adaptive Kalman Filter (JAKF) through extending innovation-based adaptive estimation (IAE) to estimate the motion state of the moving vehicles ahead. JAKF views Lidar and Radar data as the source of the local filters, which aims to adaptively adjust the measurement noise variance-covariance (V-C) matrix ‘R’ and the system noise V-C matrix ‘Q’. Then, the global filter uses R to calculate the information allocation factor ‘β’ for data fusion. Finally, the global filter completes optimal data fusion and feeds back to the local filters to improve the measurement accuracy of the local filters. Extensive simulation and experimental results show that the JAKF has better adaptive ability and fault tolerance. JAKF enables one to bridge the gap of the accuracy difference of various sensors to improve the integral filtering effectivity. If any sensor breaks down, the filtered results of JAKF still can maintain a stable convergence rate. Moreover, the JAKF outperforms the conventional Kalman filter (CKF) and the innovation-based adaptive Kalman filter (IAKF) with respect to the accuracy of displacement, velocity, and acceleration, respectively.

Description: The purpose of this study was to describe the mortality patterns in the southern provinces of China, and to provide epidemiologic data on sex and age differences of death outcomes. Reliable mortality and population data from January 2004 to December 2010 were obtained from 12 Disease Surveillance Point (DSP) sites in four provinces of China. Death data from all causes and respiratory disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pneumonia and influenza, circulatory disease, and ischemic heart disease, were stratified by year, month of death occurrence and sex, seven age groups, and summarized by descriptive statistics. The mean annual mortality rates of the selected 12 DSP sites in the southernmost provinces of China were 543.9 (range: 423.9–593.6) deaths per 100,000 population. The death rates show that noted sex differences were higher in the male population for all-cause, COPD and circulatory diseases. Pneumonia and influenza death rates present a different sex- and age-related distribution, with higher rates in male aged 65–74 years; whereas the death rates were opposite in elderly aged ≥75 years, and relatively higher in young children. This study had practical implications for recommending target groups for public health interventions.

Description: Nowadays, there is a greater need for energy efficient and stable underwater sensor networks (UWSNs). Underwater sensors usually do not have enough power, so the goal of underwater sensor networks is to make the network have a long lifetime. An underwater heterogeneous sensor network (UWHSN) is one way to cluster the sensors, and the application of UWHSNs is simple and fast, but robots, lifetime and energy-partition are all drawbacks of UWHSNs. In this paper we propose the underwater isomorphic sensor network (UWISN) clustering technology. By analyzing the characteristics of UWISNs, we determine that an UWISN has strong expansibility, mobility, energy-efficiency and long lifetime. An UWISN adopts normal sensor nodes to be cluster heads, and these cluster heads communicate with each other. This paper seeks the optimal number of clusters and uses FCM to elect cluster heads and establish the network. In addition, an idea of real cluster heads and the method to elect them have been proposed. Finally, the simulation results show that the solution is effective and UWISNs can improve the energy consumption of an UWSN.

Description: Future Internet, Vol. 10, Pages 70: Multidiscipline Integrated Platform Based on Probabilistic Analysis for Manufacturing Engineering Processes Future Internet doi: 10.3390/fi10080070 Authors: Lijun Zhang Kai Liu Jian Liu Researchers from different disciplines, such as materials science, computer science, safety science, mechanical engineering and controlling engineering, have aimed to improve the quality of manufacturing engineering processes. Considering the requirements of research and development of advanced materials, reliable manufacturing and collaborative innovation, a multidiscipline integrated platform framework based on probabilistic analysis for manufacturing engineering processes is proposed. The proposed platform consists of three logical layers: The requirement layer, the database layer and the application layer. The platform is intended to be a scalable system to gradually supplement related data, models and approaches. The main key technologies of the platform, encapsulation methods, information fusion approaches and the collaborative mechanism are also discussed. The proposed platform will also be gradually improved in the future. In order to exchange information for manufacturing engineering processes, scientists and engineers of different institutes of materials science and manufacturing engineering should strengthen their cooperation.

Description: Sustainability, Vol. 10, Pages 3374: Climate Adaptability Construction Technology of Historic Conservation Areas: The Case Study of the Chinese–Baroque Historic Conservation Area in Harbin Sustainability doi: 10.3390/su10103374 Authors: Hong Jin Jing Zhao Siqi Liu Jian Kang In recent years, the conflict between human activities and the natural environment has led to global warming and extreme weather, which has provoked people into thinking about the climate adaptability of buildings. Historical blocks are usually built and designed based on the social environment and climatic conditions at that time; therefore, they generally contain the construction techniques relevant to dealing with the local climate. The study aims to study the microclimate characteristics of a historic conservation area in a severe cold region and to explore how it attempted to achieve climate adaptation. Taking the Chinese–Baroque historic conservation area in Harbin as an example, this paper analyzed and studied the climate adaptability technology and excavated the suitable technology for the block to deal with a severe cold climate through research, field measurements, and numerical simulation. The results showed that compared with a certain modern urban area in the city, the Chinese–Baroque historic conservation area had better ability to resist wind and cold. The compact layout of the block could reduce heat loss and keep out the cold by effectively resisting the cold wind from permeating inside. Compared with the T-shaped and L-shaped courtyards, the rectangular courtyard occupies the largest proportion and a rectangular courtyard enclosed by buildings on all sides had better windbreak performance. Furthermore, when the courtyard space was enclosed by four sides and the courtyard width was the same, when the plane aspect ratio was smaller, the maximum wind speed of the inner courtyard was smaller. The squares in the block had a good performance in cold resistance. At the same scale, the higher the degree of enclosure of the square, the lower the internal wind speed. This study will provide a reference for urban planning and architectural design in severe cold regions.

Description: Materials, Vol. 11, Pages 731: Compressive Deformation Behavior of Closed-Cell Micro-Pore Magnesium Composite Foam Materials doi: 10.3390/ma11050731 Authors: Jing Wang Nannan Wang Xin Liu Jian Ding Xingchuan Xia Xueguang Chen Weimin Zhao The closed-cell micro-pore magnesium composite foam with hollow ceramic microspheres (CMs) was fabricated by a modified melt foaming method. The effect of CMs on the compressive deformation behavior of CM-containing magnesium composite foam was investigated. Optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy were used for observation of the microstructure. Finite element modeling of the magnesium composite foam was established to predict localized stress, fracture of CMs, and the compressive deformation behavior of the foam. The results showed that CMs and pores directly affected the compressive deformation behavior of the magnesium composite foam by sharing a part of load applied on the foam. Meanwhile, the presence of Mg2Si phase influenced the mechanical properties of the foam by acting as the crack source during the compression process.

Description: Energies, Vol. 11, Pages 1266: Network Performance Optimization for Low-Voltage Power Line Communications Energies doi: 10.3390/en11051266 Authors: Ying Cui Xiaosheng Liu Jian Cao Dianguo Xu Low-voltage power line communication (LVPLC) medium access control protocols significantly affect home area networks performance. This study addresses poor network performance issues caused by asymmetric channels and noise interference by proposing the following: (i) an improved Q learning method for optimizing the improved artificial LVPLC cobweb, wherein the learning-based hybrid time-division-multiple-access (TDMA)/carrier-sense-multiple-access (CSMA) protocol, the asymmetrical network system, is modeled as a discrete Markov decision process, associates the station information using online trial-and-error learning, builds a routing table, periodically studies stations to choose a better forward path, and optimizes the shortest backbone cluster tree between the central coordinator and the stations, guaranteeing network stability; and (ii) an improved adaptive p-persistent CSMA game optimization method is proposed to optimize the improved artificial cobweb saturation throughput and access delay performance. The current state of the game (e.g., the number of competitive stations) for each station is estimated by the hidden Markov model. The station changes its equilibrium strategy based on the estimated number of active stations, which reduces the collision probability of data packets, optimizes channel transmission status, and increases performance by dynamically adjusting the probability p. An optimal saturation performance is achieved by finitely repeating the game. We present numerical results to validate our proposed approach.

Description: Sustainability, Vol. 10, Pages 2333: Vulnerability Assessment for Cascading Failure in the Highway Traffic System Sustainability doi: 10.3390/su10072333 Authors: Han Liu Jian Wang Vulnerability assessment is of great significance to highway traffic system. As the widespread cascading failure may cause serious damage, factor identification is necessary to improve the security level of highway system. In this paper, the Dematel method is applied to identify the vulnerability priorities of important factors, and a new assessment method for highway system vulnerability is presented by considering system cascading failure. The traffic allocation and reallocation are then optimized under user equilibrium assignment model in different scenarios. Finally, the methodology is applied to the Heilongjiang highway network and the results shows that vulnerable sections in highway networks can be determined efficiently in our proposed process.

Description: Remote Sensing, Vol. 9, Pages 919: Diversification of Land Surface Temperature Change under Urban Landscape Renewal: A Case Study in the Main City of Shenzhen, China Remote Sensing doi: 10.3390/rs9090919 Authors: Yanxu Liu Jian Peng Yanglin Wang Unprecedented rapid urbanization in China during the past several decades has been accompanied by extensive urban landscape renewal, which has increased the urban thermal environmental risk. However, landscape change is a sufficient but not necessary condition for land surface temperature (LST) variation. Many studies have merely highlighted the correlation between landscape pattern and LST, while neglecting to comprehensively present the spatiotemporal diversification of LST change under urban landscape renewal. Taking the main city of Shenzhen as a case study area, this study tracked the landscape renewal and LST variation for the period 1987–2015 using 49 Landsat images. A decision tree algorithm suitable for fast landscape type interpretation was developed to map the landscape renewal. Analytical tools that identified hot-cold spots, the gravity center, and transect of LST movement were adopted to identify LST changes. The results showed that the spatial variation of LST was not completely consistent with landscape change. The transformation from Green landscape to Grey landscape usually increased the LST within a median of 0.2 °C, while the reverse transformation did not obviously decrease the LST (the median was nearly 0 °C). The median of LST change from Blue landscape to Grey landscape was 1.0 °C, corresponding to 0.5 °C in the reverse transformation. The imbalance of LST change between the loss and gain of Green or Blue landscape indicates the importance of protecting natural space, where the benefits in terms of temperature mitigation cannot be completely substituted by reverse transformation.

Description: Most location-based services are based on a global positioning system (GPS), which only works well in outdoor environments. Compared to outdoor environments, indoor localization has created more buzz in recent years as people spent most of their time indoors working at offices and shopping at malls, etc. Existing solutions mainly rely on inertial sensors (i.e., accelerometer and gyroscope) embedded in mobile devices, which are usually not accurate enough to be useful due to the mobile devices’ random movements while people are walking. In this paper, we propose the use of shoe sensing (i.e., sensors attached to shoes) to achieve 3D indoor positioning. Specifically, a short-time energy-based approach is used to extract the gait pattern. Moreover, in order to improve the accuracy of vertical distance estimation while the person is climbing upstairs, a state classification is designed to distinguish the walking status including plane motion (i.e., normal walking and jogging horizontally), walking upstairs, and walking downstairs. Furthermore, we also provide a mechanism to reduce the vertical distance accumulation error. Experimental results show that we can achieve nearly 100% accuracy when extracting gait patterns from walking/jogging with a low-cost shoe sensor, and can also achieve 3D indoor real-time positioning with high accuracy.