Sharif Digital Repository

Increasing usage of Solid-State Drives (SSDs) has greatly boosted the performance of storage backends. SSDs perform many internal processes such as out-of-place writes, wear-leveling, and garbage collection. These operations are complex and not well documented which make it difficult to create accurate SSD simulators. Our survey indicates that aside from complex configuration, available SSD simulators do not support both sync and discard requests. Past performance models also ignore the long term effect of I/O requests on SSD performance, which has been demonstrated to be significant. In this article, we utilize a methodology based on machine learning that extracts history-aware features at... 

The motivation of this study is development of a technique to construct energy spectrum of higher price/high resolution detectors (e.g. NaI (Tl)) using spectrum of lower price/low resolution detectors (e.g. NE102). Since there is no explicit mathematical model between these type of detectors (i.e. organic and inorganic scintillator detectors), it is necessary to utilize model-free methods. Construction of mapping function to generate spectrum of inorganic scintillator using spectrum of organic scintillator can be done by supervised model-free methods. Different supervised learning methods including localized neural networks, statistical methods, feed-forward neural networks, and conditional... 

In this study, accurate estimation of nuclear power plant (NPP) parameters is done using the new and simple technique. The proposed technique using the genetic algorithm (GA) in combination with the Bayesian regularization (BR) and Levenberg- Marquardt (LM) learning algorithms identifies the appropriate architecture for estimation of the target parameters. In the first step, the input patterns features are selected using the features selection (FS) technique. In the second step, the appropriate number of hidden neurons and hidden layers are investigated to provide a more efficient initial population of the architectures. In the third step, the estimation of the target parameter is done using... 

Up to now, different methods have been developed for estimation of buildup factor (BF). However, either expensive estimation or time-consuming estimation are major restrictions/challenges of these methods. In this study a new technique utilizing combination of Monte Carlo method and the Bayesian regularization (BR) learning algorithm of multilayer feed-forward neural network (FFNN) is employed for estimation of BFs. First, the BFs of the different elements (i.e. Al, Cu, and Fe) at different energies and different mean free paths (MFPs) are modeled by the MCNP code. The results show that the calculated BFs by MCNP code are in good agreement with the reported values of American nuclear society... 

We study the problem of experiment design to learn causal structures from interventional data. We consider an active learning setting in which the experimenter decides to intervene on one of the variables in the system in each step and uses the results of the intervention to recover further causal relationships among the variables. The goal is to fully identify the causal structures with minimum number of interventions. We present the first deep reinforcement learning based solution for the problem of experiment design. In the proposed method, we embed input graphs to vectors using a graph neural network and feed them to another neural network which outputs a variable for performing... 

In this study, in order to maximize the reaction rate of neutron activation (NA), an approach using combination of the MCNP code, the feed-forward neural network with the Bayesian regularization (FFNN-BR) learning algorithm, and the genetic algorithm (GA) is proposed. The MCNP code calculates the reaction rates based on the different moderator dimensions/ target positions. The calculated reaction rates with appropriate features (i.e. RT, R2S, and Z2S) are applied for training of the FFNN-BR. The trained neural network is utilized for estimating the reaction rates of the generated individuals by the GA. The results show that the trained neural network estimates the reaction rates with... 

Sensors are one of the most vital instruments in Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs), and operators and safety systems monitor and analyze various parameters reported by them. Failure to detect sensors malfunctions or anomalies would lead to the considerable consequences. In this research, a new method based on thermal–hydraulic simulation by RELAP5 code and Feed-Forward Neural Networks (FFNN) is introduced to detect faulty sensors and estimate their correct value. For design an efficient neural net, seven feature selectors (i.e., Information gain, ReliefF, F-regression, mRMR, Plus-L Minus-R, GA, and PSO), three sigmoid activation functions (i.e., Logistic, Tanh and Elliot), and three training... 

Remaining useful life prediction of rolling element bearings with offline condition monitoring data is the purpose of this paper. A data driven algorithm based on feedforward neural network is proposed for this aim. Since, usually the number of offline measurements are not much enough, the generalized Weibull failure rated function is used for producing the auxiliary points that are employed for training. Considering the physics of the bearing degradation, level of vibration in the highfrequency bandwidth of the spectrum is used as a feature and its performance in bearing prognostic problem is compared with that of using popular recommended features in the diagnostic standard. Bearing... 

In this paper the combined optimal feedback-adaptive feedforward controller proposed to attain better performance of active vibration suppression of flexible structures subjected to different type of disturbances. The structure considered here is a cantilever beam actuated with a PZT patch actuator. The proposed controller consists of two individual parts, a filtered-x controller as a feedforward part and an optimal linear controller as a feedback part. Recursive Least Square algorithm (RLS) is used for the adaptive filtering scheme in Filtered-x adaptive feedforward controller. LQG optimal controller is also used in the feedback part of the controller. This research investigates the... 

The vibration of a simply-supported beam with rotary springs at either ends is studied. The governing equations of motion are investigated considering the nonlinear effect of stretching. These equations are made non-dimensional and solved to the first-order approximation using the two known methods, namely, the multiple scales and the mode summation. The first five natural frequencies of the beam for different pairs of the boundary condition parameters are evaluated. A multilayer feed-forward back-propagation artificial neural network is trained using these natural frequencies. The artificial neural network used in this study shows high degree of accuracy for the natural frequency of the... 

Position control of Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) actuators has been a challenging topic during the last years due to their nonlinearities in the governing physical equations as well as their hysteresis behaviors. Using the inverse of phenomenological hysteresis model in order to compensate the input-output hysteresis behavior of these actuators shows the effectiveness of this approach. In this paper, in order to control the tip deflection of a large deformation flexible beam actuated by an SMA actuator wire, a feedforward-feedback controller is proposed. The feedforward part of the proposed control system, maps the beam deflection into SMA temperature, is based on the inverse of the generalized... 

This paper presents a new robust control strategy for an islanded microgrid in the presence of load unmodeled dynamics. The microgrid consists of parallel connection of several electronically interfaced distributed generation units and a local load. The load is parametrically uncertain and topologically unknown and, thus, is the source of unmodeled dynamics. The objective is to design a robust controller to regulate the load voltage in the presence of unmodeled dynamics. To achieve the objective, the problem is first characterized by a two-degree-of-freedom (2DOF) feedback-feedforward controller. The 2DOF control design problem is then transformed to a nonconvex optimization problem.... 

In this study, artificial neural network (ANN) was used to model the hot deformation behavior of 7075 aluminum alloy during compression test, in the strain rate range of 0.0003-1 s-1 and temperature range of 200-450 C. The inputs of the model were temperature, strain rate, and strain, while the output of the model was the flow stress. The feed-forward back-propagation network with two hidden layers was built and successfully trained at different deformation domains by Levenberg-Marquardt training algorithm. Comparative analysis of the results obtained from the hyperbolic sine, the power law constitutive equations, and the ANN shows that the newly developed ANN model has a better performance... 

Hysteresis and significant nonlinearities in the behavior of Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) actuators encumber effective utilization of these actuator. Due to these effects, the position control of SMA actuators has been a great challenge in recent years. Literature review of the research conducted in this area shows that using the inverse of the phenomenological hysteresis models can compensate the hysteresis of these actuators effectively. But, inverting some of these models, such as Preisach model, is numerically a complex task. However, the generalized Prandtl-Ishlinskii model is analytically invertible, and therefore can be implemented conveniently as a feedforward controller for compensating... 

Magnetorheological (MR) damper is a prominent semi-active control device to vibrate mitigation of structures. Due to the inherent non-linear nature of MR damper, an intelligent non-linear neuro-fuzzy control strategy is designed to control wave-induced vibration of an offshore steel jacket platform equipped with MR dampers. In the proposed control system, a dynamic-feedback neural network is adapted to model non-linear dynamic system, and the fuzzy logic controller is used to determine the control forces of MR dampers. By use of two feedforward neural networks required voltages and actual MR damper forces are obtained, in which the first neural network and the second one acts as the inverse... 

A method for noise reduction in active-$RC$ circuits is introduced. It is shown that the output noise in an active-$RC$ circuit can be considerably reduced, without disturbing the circuit transfer function by inserting appropriate passive or active components in the circuit. The inserted components introduce new signal paths in the circuit for noise reduction while the original circuit transfer function is kept unchanged. The procedure to define the proper paths in the circuit and their transfer functions is given. The effectiveness of the presented method is demonstrated using a second-order active-RC filter fabricated in a 0.18-$ {m}$ CMOS technology  

Crude oil density is an important thermodynamic property in simulation processes and design of equipment. Using laboratory methods to measure crude oil density is costly and time consuming; thus, predicting the density of crude oil using modeling is cost-effective. In this article, we develop a neural network-based model to predict the density of undersaturated crude oil. We compare our results with previous works and show that our method outperforms them  

The past few years have witnessed a growing rate of attraction in adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques and combining them to improve forecasting accuracy in different fields. Besides, stock market forecasting has always been a subject of interest for most investors and professional analysts. Stock market forecasting is a tough problem because of the uncertainties involved in the movement of the market. This paper proposes a hybrid artificial intelligence model for stock exchange index forecasting, the model is a combination of genetic algorithms and feedforward neural networks. Actually it evolves neural network weights by using genetic algorithms. We also employ preprocessing... 

The process of local scour around bridge piers is fundamentally complex due to the three-dimensional flow patterns interacting with bed materials. For geotechnical and economical reasons, multiple pile bridge piers have become more and more popular in bridge design. Although many studies have been carried out to develop relationships for the maximum scour depth at pile groups under clear-water scour condition, existing methods do not always produce reasonable results for scour predictions. It is partly due to the complexity of the phenomenon involved and partly because of limitations of the traditional analytical tool of statistical regression. This paper addresses the latter part and... 

Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) have recently been introduced as an efficient artificial intelligence modeling technique for applications involving a large, number of variables, especially with highly nonlinear and complex interactions among input/output variables in a system without any prior knowledge about the nature, of these, interactions. Various types of ANN models are developed and used for different problems. In this paper, an artificial neural network of the feed-forward back-propagation type has been applied for the prediction of density and compressive strength properties of the cement paste portion of concrete mixtures. The mechanical properties of concrete are highly...