Simple technique for the simultaneous determination of solvent diffusion coefficient in polymer by Quantum Resistive Sensors and FT‐IR spectroscopy

A simple, quick and novel method for the determination of diffusion properties through polymer films, based on Quantum Resistive Sensors made of Conductive Polymer nanoComposites is presented. The integral time lag method is employed for the calculation of diffusion coefficient, and the results are compared simultaneously with that of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and sorption method. Two model polymers, a semi‐crystalline poly(lactic acid) and an amorphous poly(isobutylene‐co‐isoprene), are used to validate the study. A good correlation is established between the diffusion coefficient values derived from all techniques demonstrating the interest of such reliable, simple and cheap nanosensors for the quick determination (several minutes) of diffusion properties in polymer films. Our first results suggest that this technique is meaningful for the determination of barrier properties in nanocomposite membranes filled with platelets of graphene or clay. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the estimation of nonlinear time series models

In the present paper, a framework for parametric estimation in nonlinear time series is developed. Strong consistency and asymptotic normality of minimum Hellinger distance estimates for a determined class of nonlinear models are investigated. The main Interest for these estimates is motivated by their robustness under perturbations as it has been emphazized in Beran [2]. The first part of the paper is devoted to the study of some probabilistic properties which ensure the existence and the optimal properties of the estimates     

Time-delay effects on dynamics of a two-actor conflict model

We present a study of time-delay effects on a two-actor conflict model based on nonlinear differential equations. The state of each actor depends on its own state in isolation, its previous state, its inertia to change, the positive or negative feedback and a time delay in the state of the other actor. We use both theoretical and numerical approaches to characterize the evolution of the system for several values of time delays. We find that, under particular conditions, a time delay leads to the appearance of oscillations in the states of the actors. Besides, phase portraits for the trajectories are presented to illustrate the evolution of the system for different time delays. Finally, we discuss our results in the context of social conflict models.     

Resource allocation model and double-sphere crowding distance for evolutionary multi-objective optimization

Convergence speed and diversity of nondominated solutions are two important performance indicators for Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithms (MOEAs). In this paper, we propose a Resource Allocation (RA) model based on Game Theory to accelerate the convergence speed of MOEAs, and a novel Double-Sphere Crowding Distance (DSCD) measure to improve the diversity of nondominated solutions. The mechanism of RA model is that the individuals in each group cooperate with each other to get maximum benefits for their group, and then individuals in the same group compete for private interests. The DSCD measure uses hyper-spheres consisting of nearest neighbors to estimate the crowding degree. Experimental results on convergence speed and diversity of nondominated solutions for benchmark problems and a real-world problem show the efficiency of these two proposed techniques.     

Time optimality and the maximum principle in infinite dimension

We present three counterexamples related to the maximum principle for the time optimal problem. The system is linear, infinite dimensional, with point target and “full” control     

Optimal feedback gains of a delayed proportional-derivative (PD) control for balancing an inverted pendulum

In the dynamics analysis and synthesis of a con-trolled system, it is important to know for what feedback gains can the controlled system decay to the demanded steady state as fast as possible. This article presents a sys-tematic method for finding the optimal feedback gains by taking the stability of an inverted pendulum system with a delayed proportional-derivative controller as an example. First, the condition for the existence and uniqueness of the stable region in the gain plane is obtained by using the D-subdivision method and the method of stability switch. Then the same procedure is used repeatedly to shrink the stable region by decreasing the real part of the rightmost charac-teristic root. Finally, the optimal feedback gains within the stable region that minimizes the real part of the rightmost root are expressed by an explicit formula. With the optimal feedback gains, the controlled inverted pendulum decays to its trivial equilibrium at the fastest speed when the initial val-ues around the origin are fixed. The main results are checked by numerical simulation.     

The multi-attribute grey target decision method for attribute value within three-parameter interval grey number

Based on the grey system theory and methods, the grey-target decision-making problem is discussed, in which the attribute values are grey numbers and the maximum probability of the value of grey number is known. Firstly, the optimal effect vector is the positive bull’s-eye and positive bull’s-eye distance of each scheme is defined. Subjectively or objectively weighting method is integrated to determine the index weight and integrated optimization model of index weight is established. Finally, the critical effect vector is the negative bull’s-eye and negative bull’s-eye distance of each scheme is defined, then relative bull’s-eye distance and comprehensive the bull’s-eye distance of grey target decision-making are given. An example is also presented to illustrate the usefulness and effectiveness of the methods obtained in this paper and provides a new idea for grey target decision-making method research.     

On the moments of the time to ruin in dependent Sparre Andersen models with emphasis on Coxian interclaim times

The structural properties of the moments of the time to ruin are studied in dependent Sparre Andersen models. The moments of the time to ruin may be viewed as generalized versions of the Gerber–Shiu function. It is shown that structural properties of the Gerber–Shiu function hold also for the moments of the time to ruin. In particular, the moments continue to satisfy defective renewal equations. These properties are discussed in detail in the model of Willmot and Woo (2012), which has Coxian interclaim times and arbitrary time-dependent claim sizes. Structural quantities needed to determine the moments of the time to ruin are specified under this model. Numerical examples illustrating the methodology are presented.     

An object-parameter approach to predicting unknown data in incomplete fuzzy soft sets

Incomplete data in soft sets lead to uncertainty and inaccuracy in representing and handling information. This paper introduces notions of complete distance between two objects and relative dominance degree between two parameters. Based on both the notions, an object-parameter method is proposed to predict unknown data in incomplete fuzzy soft sets. The proposal makes full use of known data, including the information from the relationship between known values of all objects on a certain parameter and the information from the relationship between known values of an object on all parameters. The effectiveness of the proposal is verified by many examples under the compared investigation of classical predicted methods.