Sharif Digital Repository

Optimal control of large-scale uncertain dynamic systems with time delays in states is considered in this paper. For this purpose, a two-level strategy is proposed to decompose the large-scale system into several interconnected subsystems at the first level. Then optimal control inputs are obtained by minimization of convex performance indices in presence of uncertainties, in the form of states and interactions feedback. The solution is achieved by bounded data uncertainty problems, where the uncertainties are only needed to be bounded and it is not required to satisfy the so-called 'matching conditions'. At the second level, a simple substitution-type interaction prediction method is used... 

Human motion planning studies are of considerable importance in producing human-like trajectories for various industrial or clinical applications (e.g. assistive robots). In this case, the capability of Central Nervous System (CNS) in generating a large repertoire of actions can be inspirational to develop more efficient motion planning approaches. Here, inspired by structural and functional modularity in the CNS, a novel modular and hierarchical model is developed to plan the sit-to-stand (STS) transfer under varying environmental conditions. In this model, the planning process is distributed among several functionally simple modules. The cooperation of modules enables the model to plan the... 

In large-scale power systems, classical centralized control approaches may fail due to geographically distribution of information and decentralized controllers result in sub-optimal solution for load-frequency control (LFC) problems. In this paper, a two-level structure is presented to obtain optimal solution for LFC problems and also reduce the computational complexity of centralized controllers. In this approach, an interconnected multi-area power system is decomposed into several sub-systems (areas) at the first-level. Then an optimization problem in each area is solved separately, with respect to its local information and interaction signals coming from other areas. At the second-level,... 

Recently, there has been a growing attention in frequent itemset mining in distributed systems. In this paper, we present an algorithm to extract frequent itemsets from large distributed datasets. Our algorithm uses gossip as the communication mechanism and does not rely on any central node. In gossip based communication, nodes repeatedly select other random nodes in the system, and exchange information with them. Our algorithm proceeds in rounds and provides all nodes with the required support counts of itemsets, such that each node is able to extract the global frequent itemsets. For local iteration and generation of candidate itemsets, a trie data structure is used, which facilitates the... 

A modular hierarchical structure is developed to describe human movement planning level. The modular feature of the proposed model enables it to generalize planning a task. The movements are planned based on decomposing a task into its corresponding subtasks (motion phases). There is a module responsible for one condition. The final plan is constructed using soft computing of the plans proposed by different modules. Each module estimates the kinematics of the joints at the end of each subtask; we call them kinematic estimator modules (KEMs). A timing module estimates the duration of motion and a gating module determines the responsibility of each KEM under different conditions. To evaluate... 

A set of recursive equations are introduced for optimum design of a wide range of hierarchical truss beams to satisfy a minimum required natural frequency. The design equations are based on a general analytical solution, which are derived based on a critical dimensional analysis. A practical example is examined in both 2D and 3D spaces, which promises substantial mass reduction, as much as 99%, when using high order hierarchical truss beams. The results are verified by numerical evaluation of three case studies. The approach looks also very promising to design nanostructures when it comes to the problems associated with vibration  

Finding an optimal control strategy for a nonlinear uncertain system is a challenging problem in the area of nonlinear controller design. In this paper, a two-level control algorithm is developed for robust optimal control of large-scale nonlinear systems. For this purpose, using a decomposition/coordination framework, the large-scale nonlinear system is first decomposed into several smaller subsystems, at the first level, where a closed-form solution as a feedback of states and interactions is obtained to optimize each subsystem. At the second level, a substitution-type prediction method, as a coordination strategy, is used to compensate the nonlinear terms of the system and to predict the... 

Nowadays, knowledge is the key to success in all software engineering processes. This valuable knowledge, obtained through analysis, design, development, and maintenance processes of the system, should be saved and reused in designing and developing current and similar systems. Using pre-existing knowledge is a practical approach which reduces design complexity, improves software architecture design and manages software quality. In this paper, we describe an approach to create architecture design knowledge using a hierarchical structure of architectural styles based on quality attributes. Knowledge is most importance asset of our approach that reuses similar domains, correlates architectures... 

In this article, a universal collaborative and competitive approach is introduced for deployment of digital collections in an ideal Digital Library for future's educational system. A hierarchical structure is proposed to be used for browsing and searching within mass of digital contents provided for union of curriculums worldwide. The collaborative and open-source aspects of the system guarantee the growth of the Digital Library. On the other hand, the competitive and reviewing aspects guarantee the accuracy of the novel library contents. Two experiments confirm the need for such a universal Digital Library worldwide to enhance learning capabilities, increase accessibility, avoid redundancy... 

This paper addresses the issue of finding and accessing desired items when a large amount of data items are concerned, by proposing some concepts based on Tree Search Structure -a hierarchical structure for information retrieval. The proposed concepts are applicable to several environments such as File Managers on PCs, help tree views, site maps, taxonomies, and cell phones. A software tool, FTS (File Tree Search), that is developed to utilize the proposed concepts is also presented  

In this paper, a micromechanical model for connective soft tissues based on the available histological evidences is developed. The proposed model constituents i.e. collagen fibers and ground matrix are considered as hyperelastic materials. The matrix material is assumed to be isotropic Neo-Hookean while the collagen fibers are considered to be transversely isotropic hyperelastic. In order to take into account the effects of tissue structure in lower scales on the macroscopic behavior of tissue, a strain energy density function (SEDF) is developed for collagen fibers based on tissue hierarchical structure. Macroscopic response and properties of tissue are obtained using the numerical... 

Successful design and implementation of knowledge management systems have been the main concern of many researchers. It has been reported that more than 50% of knowledge management systems have failed, therefore, it is required to seek for a new and comprehensive scientific approach to design and implement it. In the design and implementation of a knowledge management system, it is required to know 'what we want to achieve' and 'how and by what processes we will achieve it'. A literature review conducted and axiomatic design theory selected for this purpose. For the first time, this paper develops a conceptual design of knowledge management systems by means of a hierarchical structure,... 

The trend in biomaterials development has now headed for tailoring the properties and making hybrid materials to achieve the optimal performance metrics in a product. Modern manufacturing processes along with advanced computational techniques enable systematical fabrication of new biomaterials by design strategy. Functionally graded materials as a recent group of hybrid materials have found numerous applications in biomedical area, particularly for making orthopedic prostheses. This article, therefore, seeks to address the following research questions: (RQ1) What is the desired structure of orthopedic hybrid materials? (RQ2) What is the contribution of the literature in the development of... 

One of the security issues in data outsourcing scenario is the enforcement of data owner's access control policies. This includes some challenges; namely, the number of keys required to access authorized resources, efficient policy updating, write access control enforcement, user and data owner overhead, and preserving confidentiality of data and policies. Most of the existing solutions address only some of the challenges, while they impose high overhead on both the data owner and users. Though, policy management in the Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) model is easier and more efficient due to the existence of role hierarchical structure and role inheritance; most of the existing solutions... 

In this paper, the swing-up problem of the Furuta pendulum has been solved by introducing a new combined method based on the frequency response, and the sliding mode method. Furthermore, a trajectory tracking controller has been introduced and applied to the Furuta pendulum; which the pendulum remained regulated at the upward position, while the arm tracks a desired time-varying trajectory. The hierarchical sliding mode control (HSMC) approach has been employed to achieve the mentioned goals. The Furuta system is made up of two subsystems. Based on this physical structure, the hierarchical structure of the sliding surfaces is designed as follows: first, the sliding surface of each subsystem... 

Hierarchical reinforcement learning facilitates learning in large and complex domains by exploiting subtasks and creating hierarchical structures using these subtasks. Subtasks are usually defined through finding subgoals of the problem. Providing mechanisms for autonomous subgoal discovery and skill acquisition is a challenging issue in reinforcement learning. Among the proposed algorithms, a few of them are successful both in performance and also efficiency in terms of the running time of the algorithm. In this paper, we study four methods for subgoal discovery which are based on graph partitioning. The idea behind the methods proposed in this paper is that if we partition the transition... 

The Internet of Things (IoT) technology enables numerous things with different processing power and storage capacity to communicate and share data with each other. Considering the constrained devices of the IoT network in terms of processing and storage, designing a lightweight authentication scheme is quite important. So in this paper, we propose a lightweight authentication scheme based on Chebyshev Chaotic Maps. In the proposed scheme we apply a hierarchical structure to define different access controls for various entities. We then provide a formal analysis via the BAN logic to show the security of our scheme. Moreover, we compare our proposed scheme with previous ones in terms of... 

The hierarchical structure of real-world problems has resulted in a focus on hierarchical frameworks in the reinforcement learning paradigm. Preparing mechanisms for automatic discovery of macro-actions has mainly concentrated on subgoal discovery methods. Among the proposed algorithms, those based on graph partitioning have achieved precise results. However, few methods have been shown to be successful both in performance and also efficiency in terms of time complexity of the algorithm. In this paper, we present a SCC-based subgoal discovery algorithm; a graph theoretic approach for automatic detection of subgoals in linear time. Meanwhile a parameter tuning method is proposed to find the...