Artificial Neural Networks for Pyrolysis,Thermal Analysis,and Thermokinetic Studies: The Status Quo

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are a method of machine learning (ML) that is now widely used in physics, chemistry, and material science. ANN can learn from data to identify nonlinear trends and give accurate predictions. ML methods, and ANNs in particular, have already demonstrated their worth in solving various chemical engineering problems, but applications in pyrolysis, thermal analysis, and, especially, thermokinetic studies are still in an initiatory stage. The present article gives a critical overview and summary of the available literature on applying ANNs in the field of pyrolysis, thermal analysis, and thermokinetic studies. More than 100 papers from these research areas are surveyed. Some approaches from the broad field of chemical engineering are discussed as the venues for possible transfer to the field of pyrolysis and thermal analysis studies in general. It is stressed that the current thermokinetic applications of ANNs are yet to evolve significantly to reach the capabilities of the existing isoconversional and model-fitting methods.     

Application of artificial neural networks as a technique for interference removal: kinetic-spectrophotometric determination of trace amounts of Se(IV) in the presence of Te(IV)

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are among the most popular techniques for nonlinear multivariate calibration in complicated mixtures using spectrophotometric data. In this study we propose a computer-based method for removing Te(IV) interference in the determination of Se(IV) using artificial neural networks. In this way, an artificial neural network consisting of three layers of nodes was trained by applying a back-propagation learning rule. The resulting RMSE of prediction for selenium was obtained as 0.108.     

人工神经网络在纸浆卡伯值光学定量分析中的应用

卡伯值 (硬度 )是纸浆的重要质量指标 ,是制浆过程控制的关键参数 .目前的测量方法包括化学分析法和光学分析法两大类型 ,国内大多数的制浆造纸厂采用离线的传统化学分析法来测定纸浆的卡伯值 ,需要比较长的时间 .而光学分析法因具有实时性好、精度和可靠性高等优点 ,已逐步用于卡伯值的在线测量和控制 .研究 [1] 发现 ,在 460～ 580 nm的可见光谱范围内 ,蒸煮液吸光度的变化可以表征纸浆中木素含量的变化 .本文将可见分光光谱技术应用于蒸煮液中木素含量的在线测量 ,根据蒸煮液在所选波段的吸光度来预测纸浆的卡伯值 ,建立纸浆卡伯值与蒸煮…     

Recognition of adulteration of Italian wines by thin-film multisensor array and artificial neural networks

The paper reports the use of a chemoresistive multisensor array for recognition of some adulterated Italian wines (two white, four red, two rosè) added with methanol, ethanol or other same-colour wine. A multisensor array constituted by four thin-film semiconducting metal oxide sensors, surface-activated by Pt, Au, Pd, Bi metal catalysts, has been used to generate the chemical pattern of the volatile compounds present in the wine samples. The responses of the multisensor array towards wines tested by headspace sampling have been evaluated. Multivariate analysis including principal component analysis (PCA) as well as back-propagation method trained artificial neural networks (ANNs) have been applied to analytical data generated from the multisensor array to identify both the adulteration of wines and to determine the added content of adulterant agent of methanol or ethanol up to 10 vol.%. The cross-validated ANNs provide the highest achieved percentage of correct classification of 93% and the highest achieved correlation coefficient of 0.997 and 0.921 for predicted-versus-true concentration of methanol and ethanol adulterant agent, respectively.     

Non-destructive determination of metronidazole powder by using artificial neural networks on short-wavelength NIR spectroscopy

The present study aimed at providing a new method in sight into short-wavelength near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy of in pharmaceutical quantitative analysis. To do that, 124 experimental samples of metronidazole powder were analyzed using artificial neural networks (ANNs) in the 780-1100 nm region of short-wavelength NIR spectra. In this paper, metronidazole was as active component and other two components (magnesium stearate and starch) were as excipients. Different preprocessing spectral data (first-derivative, second-derivative, standard normal variate (SNV) and multiplicative scatter correction (MSC)) were applied to establish the ANNs models of metronidazole powder. The degree of approximation, a new evaluation criterion of the networks was employed to prove the accuracy of the predicted results. The results presented here demonstrate that the short-wavelength NIR region is promising for the fast and reliable determination of major component in pharmaceutical analysis.     

Data Compression for a Voltammetric Electronic Tongue Modelled with Artificial Neural Networks

Abstract

In the study of voltammetric electronic tongues, a key point is the preprocessing of the departure information, the voltammograms which form the response of the sensor array, prior to classification or modeling with advanced chemometric tools. This work demonstrates the use of the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) for compacting these voltammograms prior to modeling. After compression, a system based on artificial neural networks (ANNs) was used for the quantification of the electroactive substances present, using the obtained wavelet decomposition coefficients as their inputs. The Daubechies wavelet of fourth order permitted an effective compression up to 16 coefficients, reducing the original dimension by ca. 10 times. The case studied is a mixture of three oxidizable amino acids:tryptophan, cysteine, and tyrosine. With the reduced information, one ANN per specie was trained using the Bayesian regularization algorithm. The proposed procedure was compared with the more conventional treatments of downsampling the voltammogram, or its feature extraction employing principal component analysis prior to ANNs.     

Study on the quantitative structureactivity relation-ship of C-10 substituted artemisinin (QHS)’s derivatives using rough set theory

The structure-activity relationship study of C-10 substituted artemisinin (QHS) derivatives that are used as antimalarial was performed with the RS (rough sets) method. An RS process is a concise nonlinear process, and it has broad application foreground in the data mining of nonlinear life courses. In this work, initially the parameters of C-10 substituted QHS’s derivatives were computed with the quantum chemistry method, and the information table was constructed from the parameters (condition attributes) and biological activity (decision attributes). Based on the analysis of rough set theory, the core and reduction of attributes sets were obtained. Then the decision rules were extracted and the struc-ture-activity relationship was analyzed. As a nonlinear system, RS theory can extract the special rela-tion in the database. It has the advantage of being nonlinear over multiple linear regression (MLR), principal component analysis (PCA), partial least square (PLS), etc., and the advantage of obtaining results with unambiguous physical meanings over artificial neuron networks (ANNs), etc. The result obtained in this study is instructive to the study of pharmacodynamics, resistance mechanism of QHS and development of QHS’s derivatives.     

Resolution of Differential Pulse Voltammetric Peaks Using Genetic Algorithm Based Variable Selection‐Partial Least Squares and Principal Component‐Artificial Neural Networks

Differential Pulse Voltammetry has been used for the simultaneous determination of cysteine, tyrosine and trptophan on the unmodified glassy carbon electrode. In the analysis of these analytes in the same samples, the main difficulty is the high degree of overlapping of voltammograms. The relationships between the currents and the concentrations are complex and highly nonlinear. The predictive ability of principal component regression (PCR), partial least squares regression (PLS), genetic algorithm‐partial least squares regression (GA‐PLS) and principal component‐artificial neural networks (PC‐ANNs) were examined for simultaneous determination of three amino acids. For a regression model, everything that could not help in constructing the model may be considered as noise without further specification. PC‐ANN and GA‐PLS use significant data and show superiority over other applied multivariate methods. The proposed method was also applied satisfactorily to determination of analytes in some synthetic samples.     

Artificial neural networks in chemometrics: History, examples and perspectives

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are non-linear computational tools suitable to a great host of practical application due to their flexibility and adaptability. However, their application to the resolution of chemometric problems is relatively recent (early 1990s).In this communication, different artificial neural networks architectures are presented and their application to different kinds of chemometric problems (mainly classification and regression) is discussed by means of examples taken from the authors' experience, stressing the pros and cons of ANNs with respect to traditional chemometric techniques.     

Statistical Analysis of Chemical Element Compositions in Food Science: Problems and Possibilities

In recent years, many analyses have been carried out to investigate the chemical components of food data. However, studies rarely consider the compositional pitfalls of such analyses. This is problematic as it may lead to arbitrary results when non-compositional statistical analysis is applied to compositional datasets. In this study, compositional data analysis (CoDa), which is widely used in other research fields, is compared with classical statistical analysis to demonstrate how the results vary depending on the approach and to show the best possible statistical analysis. For example, honey and saffron are highly susceptible to adulteration and imitation, so the determination of their chemical elements requires the best possible statistical analysis. Our study demonstrated how principle component analysis (PCA) and classification results are influenced by the pre-processing steps conducted on the raw data, and the replacement strategies for missing values and non-detects. Furthermore, it demonstrated the differences in results when compositional and non-compositional methods were applied. Our results suggested that the outcome of the log-ratio analysis provided better separation between the pure and adulterated data and allowed for easier interpretability of the results and a higher accuracy of classification. Similarly, it showed that classification with artificial neural networks (ANNs) works poorly if the CoDa pre-processing steps are left out. From these results, we advise the application of CoDa methods for analyses of the chemical elements of food and for the characterization and authentication of food products.     

人工神经元网络法提高毛细管电泳药物控制分析准确度的研究

研究了人工神经元网络法在毛细管电泳定量测定memantine中提高测定准确度 的可行性。在毛细管电泳法定量测定memantine的过程中，其浓度与峰高或峰面积 以及与二者和内标的比值均没有良好的线性关系。人工神经元网络具有很强的非线 性校正能力，其最大优点是无须对分离体系及组分的迁移行为预先予以了解。人工 神经元网络的输为memantine的峰高和峰面积，输出为memantine的浓度。通过实验 确定的网络结构为2：1：1型。由于人工神经元网络的通用性，该法也可用于毛细 管电泳在其他药物控制分析中改善定量分析的准确度。     

Classification of time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry spectra from complex Cu–Fe sulphides by principal component analysis and artificial neural networks

Artificial neural network (ANN) and a hybrid principal component analysis-artificial neural network (PCA-ANN) classifiers have been successfully implemented for classification of static time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) mass spectra collected from complex Cu–Fe sulphides (chalcopyrite, bornite, chalcocite and pyrite) at different flotation conditions. ANNs are very good pattern classifiers because of: their ability to learn and generalise patterns that are not linearly separable; their fault and noise tolerance capability; and high parallelism. In the first approach, fragments from the whole ToF-SIMS spectrum were used as input to the ANN, the model yielded high overall correct classification rates of 100% for feed samples, 88% for conditioned feed samples and 91% for Eh modified samples. In the second approach, the hybrid pattern classifier PCA-ANN was integrated. PCA is a very effective multivariate data analysis tool applied to enhance species features and reduce data dimensionality. Principal component (PC) scores which accounted for 95% of the raw spectral data variance, were used as input to the ANN, the model yielded high overall correct classification rates of 88% for conditioned feed samples and 95% for Eh modified samples.     

The analysis of seasonal air pollution pattern with application of neural networks

Air pollution monitoring includes measuring the concentrations of air contaminants such as nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, some polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(PAHs), suspended particulate matter (PM) and tar substances. The purpose of this study was to determine the possibility of using artificial neural networks for identification of any patterns occurring during heating and nonheating seasons. The samples included in the study were collected over a period of 5 years (1997–2001) in the area of the city of Gdansk and the levels of pollutants measured in the samples collected were used as inputs to two different types of neural networks: multilayer perceptron (MLP) and self-organizing map (SOM). The MLP was used as a tool to predict in what heating season a certain sample was collected, and the SOM was applied for mapping all samples to recognize any similarities between them. This study also presents the comparison between two projection methods—linear (principal component analysis, PCA) and nonlinear (SOM)—in extracting valuable information from multidimensional environmental data. In the research the MLP model with 13-12-1 topology was developed and successfully trained for classification of air samples from different seasons. The sensitivity analysis on the inputs to the MLP indicated benz[α]anthracene, benzo[α]pyrene, PM₁, SO₂, tar substances and PM₁₀ as the most distinctive variables, while PCA pointed to PAHs and PM₁.     

Polarography and artificial neural network for the simultaneous determination of nalidixic acid and its main metabolite (7-hydroxymethylnalidixic acid)

Nalidixic acid (NA) and its main metabolite, 7-hydroxymethylnalidixic acid (OH-NA), are simultaneously determined by applying artificial neural networks (ANNs), to their square wave voltammetric signals. The scores of a PCR model, built with the voltammetric data of a set of standard samples, recorded between −0.70 and −1.0 V, are used as training set for the net for each compound. The trained nets (ANNs) are used for the simultaneous determination of NA and OH-NA in urine. The recovery values are comprised between 91 and 109% for NA and between 82 and 112% for OH-NA, being these results better than the results obtained by application of partial least squares (PLS) multivariate calibration.     

人工神经网络在溶解度预测方面的应用

溶解度作为一项重要的物化指标,一直是化学学科的研究重点。然而,通过实验测量获得数据耗时费力,因此,科研人员建立了多种理论方法来进行估算,其中,人工神经网络因其能够关联复杂的多变量情况而受到广泛关注。本文综述了人工神经网络在物质溶解度预测方面的应用,介绍了应用最广泛的3种神经网络(BP神经网络、小波神经网络、径向基神经网络)的模型结构、预测方法和预测优势,探讨了神经网络的不足以及改进方法。文章最后对神经网络在物质溶解度预测方面的发展前景进行了展望。与其他方法相比,人工神经网络技术在物质溶解度预测方面具有预测结果精确度高、操作简单等特点,具有广阔的应用前景,但输入变量选择、隐含层节点数确定、避免局部最优等问题还需逐步建立系统的理论指导。     

Authentication of vegetable oils on the basis of their physico-chemical properties with the aid of chemometrics

In food production, reliable analytical methods for confirmation of purity or degree of spoilage are required by growers, food quality assessors, processors, and consumers. Seven parameters of physico-chemical properties, such as acid number, colority, density, refractive index, moisture and volatility, saponification value and peroxide value, were measured for quality and adulterated soybean, as well as quality and rancid rapeseed oils. Chemometrics methods were then applied for qualitative and quantitative discrimination and prediction of the oils by methods such exploratory principal component analysis (PCA), partial least squares (PLS), radial basis function-artificial neural networks (RBF-ANN), and multi-criteria decision making methods (MCDM), PROMETHEE and GAIA.In general, the soybean and rapeseed oils were discriminated by PCA, and the two spoilt oils behaved differently with the rancid rapeseed samples exhibiting more object scatter on the PC-scores plot, than the adulterated soybean oil. For the PLS and RBF-ANN prediction methods, suitable training models were devised, which were able to predict satisfactorily the category of the four different oil samples in the verification set. Rank ordering with the use of MCDM models indicated that the oil types can be discriminated on the PROMETHEE II scale. For the first time, it was demonstrated how ranking of oil objects with the use of PROMETHEE and GAIA could be utilized as a versatile indicator of quality performance of products on the basis of a standard selected by the stakeholder. In principle, this approach provides a very flexible method for assessment of product quality directly from the measured data.     

Comparative determination of phosphate and silicate using molybdenum blue by radial basis function and feed-forward neural networks assisted by principal component analysis.

In the present study, chemometric analysis of visible spectral data of phospho-and silico-molybdenum blue complexes was used to develop artificial neural networks (ANNs) for the simultaneous determination of the phosphate and silicate. Combinations of principal component analysis (PCA) with feed-forward neural networks (FFNNs) and radial basis function networks (RBFNs) were built and investigated. The structures of the models were simplified by using the corresponding important principal components as input instead of the original spectra. Number of inputs and hidden nodes, learning rate, transfer functions and number of epochs and SPREAD values were optimized. Performances of methods were tested with root mean square errors prediction (RMSEP, %), using synthetic solutions. The obtained satisfactory results indicate the applicability of this ANN approach based on PCA input selection for determination in highly spectral overlapping. The results obtained by FFNNs and by RBF networks were compared. The applicability of methods was investigated for synthetic samples, for detergent formulations, and for a river water sample.     

Simultaneous spectrophotometric determination of Fe and Ni with xylenol orange using principal component analysis and artificial neural networks in some industrial samples

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are among the most popular techniques for nonlinear multivariate calibration in complicated mixtures using spectrophotometric data. In this study, Fe and Ni were simultaneously determined in aqueous medium with xylenol orange (XO) at pH 4.0. In this way, after reducing the number of spectral data using principal component analysis (PCA), an artificial neural network consisting of three layers of nodes was trained by applying a back-propagation learning rule. Sigmoid transfer functions were used in the hidden and output layers to facilitate nonlinear calibration. Adjustable experimental and network parameters were optimized, 30 calibration and 20 prediction samples were prepared over the concentration ranges of 0-400 mug l(-1) Fe and 0-300 mug l(-1) Ni. The resulting R.S.E. of prediction (S.E.P.) of 3.8 and 4.7% for Fe and Ni were obtained, respectively. The method has been applied to the spectrophotometric determination of Fe and Ni in synthetic samples, some Ni alloys, and some industrial waste waters.     

Sustained modelling ability of artificial neural networks in the analysis of two pharmaceuticals (dextropropoxyphene and dipyrone) present in unequal concentrations

An improvement is presented on the simultaneous determination of two active ingredients present in unequal concentrations in injections. The analysis was carried out with spectrophotometric data and non-linear multivariate calibration methods, in particular artificial neural networks (ANNs). The presence of non-linearities caused by the major analyte concentrations which deviate from Beer's law was confirmed by plotting actual vs. predicted concentrations, and observing curvatures in the residuals for the estimated concentrations with linear methods. Mixtures of dextropropoxyphene and dipyrone have been analysed by using linear and non-linear partial least-squares (PLS and NPLSs) and ANNs. Notwithstanding the high degree of spectral overlap and the occurrence of non-linearities, rapid and simultaneous analysis has been achieved, with reasonably good accuracy and precision. A commercial sample was analysed by using the present methodology, and the obtained results show reasonably good agreement with those obtained by using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and a UV-spectrophotometric comparative methods.     

Artificial neural networks for quantification in unresolved capillary electrophoresis peaks

The application of the combination of experimental design (ED) and artificial neural networks (ANNs) for the quantification of overlapped peaks in capillary zone electrophoresis is described. When the total separation cannot be achieved by separation techniques, the use of ED-ANN can be a suitable approach. The unstability of EOF causes peak shift that has to be corrected in order to apply ED-ANN methods. In this work, normalization procedure of electropherograms with consequent application of ANNs for quantification purpose was developed. Both, spectra and electropherograms can be used as multivariate data. In general, both kinds of data were found to be suitable for unresolved peaks quantification by ED-ANN approach.