Data mining in geographical contexts and texts

Presentation (2010)

An increasing number of institutions, acting at different scales and within different sectors, create in-house geographical information systems, e.g. for regional statistics, for land and transport ... [more ▼]

An increasing number of institutions, acting at different scales and within different sectors, create in-house geographical information systems, e.g. for regional statistics, for land and transport management, for local urban planning, etc. In addition, with the advent of new technologies, such as GPS's or web-mapping facilities, the use of such geographical data is being more and more popular and data is made more easily accessible (sometimes even contributed by the end-users). Geographers find themselves in rather data rich environments today (irrespective of homogeneity and quality). Also geographical objects require specific visualization and statistical methods. The application and adaptation of data mining approaches in geographical contexts is an increasingly important research topic. In this lecture we will start from theoretical considerations on data mining in geography, particularly emphasizing what is special with exploratory spatial data analysis. We will then refer to ongoing research related to geographical data mining undertaken at the University of Luxembourg in collaboration with colleagues from other institutions. A first example will refer to a large and homogeneous dataset of all dwellings within a Belgian province. Using graph theory and local spatial statistics, the data is used to identify and categorize urbanisation patterns across scales in an iterative way. A second example will depict an application of 'self-organizing maps' to understand patterns of 'territorial cohesion' in Europe using a rather small and lacunary dataset. The third example will be dedicated to a text-mining application to a rather large corpus of documents related to spatial development in Europe. This work funded under the ESPON (European Spatial Observatory Network) aims at producing a relevant thematic structure to the online regional statistics database of the ESPON network. [less ▲]

Data Science in Europe

in International Journal of Data Science and Analytics (2018)

Data-driven modelling and simulation: fracture and medical simulations

Presentation (2018, February 08)

Predicting failure in aircraft structures – simulating fracture across scales and times You could fly every day of your life in a commercial aircraft for twenty thousand years without suffering a fatal ... [more ▼]

Predicting failure in aircraft structures – simulating fracture across scales and times You could fly every day of your life in a commercial aircraft for twenty thousand years without suffering a fatal accident. This extraordinary level of safety is the product of decades of engineering and materials science research. Simultaneously, engineers have strived to produce lighter and stronger aircraft, with increased range and metals have thus been gradually replaced by lighter advanced composite materials which take up more than half of the structural weight of today's most advanced aircraft. Such progress has been largely enabled by modeling and simulation of materials and structures, which have revolutionized design by enabling engineers to investigate virtually various design strategies. This presentation will focus on the challenges which have been posed, are posed, and will be posed to such modeling and simulation tools in the strive to predict the durability of lighter, stronger, longer-ranging and more reliable aircraft. [less ▲]

Dealing with interfaces in partitioned model order reduction for application to nonlinear problems

Scientific Conference (2013)

We propose a reduced order modelling technique based on a partitioning of the domain of study in the context of para- metric nonlinear problems. A formulation of the reduction of the displacement and of ... [more ▼]

We propose a reduced order modelling technique based on a partitioning of the domain of study in the context of para- metric nonlinear problems. A formulation of the reduction of the displacement and of the interface tractions linking subdomains to each others will be performed in a FETI context. [less ▲]

Decentralised minimal-time consensus

in The proceedings of the 2011 50th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control and European Control Conference (CDC-ECC) (2011)

This study considers the discrete-time dynamics of a network of agents that exchange information according to the nearest-neighbour protocol under which all agents are guaranteed to reach consensus ... [more ▼]

This study considers the discrete-time dynamics of a network of agents that exchange information according to the nearest-neighbour protocol under which all agents are guaranteed to reach consensus asymptotically. We present a fully decentralised algorithm that allows any agent to compute the consensus value of the whole network in finite time using only the minimal number of successive values of its own history. We show that this minimal number of steps is related to a Jordan block decomposition of the network dynamics and present an algorithm to obtain the minimal number of steps in question by checking a rank condition on a Hankel matrix of the local observations. Furthermore, we prove that the minimal number of steps is related to other algebraic and graph theoretical notions that can be directly computed from the Laplacian matrix of the graph and from the underlying graph topology. [less ▲]

Decentralised minimum-time consensus

in Automatica (2013), 49(5), 1227-1235

We consider the discrete-time dynamics of a network of agents that exchange information according to a nearest-neighbour protocol under which all agents are guaranteed to reach consensus asymptotically ... [more ▼]

We consider the discrete-time dynamics of a network of agents that exchange information according to a nearest-neighbour protocol under which all agents are guaranteed to reach consensus asymptotically. We present a fully decentralised algorithm that allows any agent to compute the final consensus value of the whole network in finite time using the minimum number of successive values of its own state history. We show that the minimum number of steps is related to a Jordan block decomposition of the network dynamics, and present an algorithm to compute the final consensus value in the minimum number of steps by checking a rank condition of a Hankel matrix of local observations. Furthermore, we prove that the minimum number of steps is related to graph theoretical notions that can be directly computed from the Laplacian matrix of the graph and from the minimum external equitable partition. [less ▲]

Decompositions of the optimal dispatching problem of electric and electric-hybrid buses with energy constraints for Luxembourg City

Scientific Conference (2018, September)

We are a team of engineers working on a concrete project of Mobility in Luxembourg. We want to solve the problem of optimally determining the sequence of electric and hybrid electric buses, considering ... [more ▼]

We are a team of engineers working on a concrete project of Mobility in Luxembourg. We want to solve the problem of optimally determining the sequence of electric and hybrid electric buses, considering both service constraints (schedule adherence) and energy constraints (electric bus charging status, bus recharging scheduling in capacitated facilities) and at the same time ensure a high level of quality of service for the user satisfaction. The problem is formulated as a Mixed Integer Linear Program, with the objective of minimizing the total operational cost for the bus lines in question. System dynamics are captured by twenty sets of constraints, ranging from scheduling adherence to discharge-recharge dynamics. Individual operational costs at the bus level (cost of running an electric / non-electric bus per km, cost of recharging) and at the trip level (penalty due to failed schedule adherence) are fully parametrised, allowing for extensive sensitivity analysis. We investigate a real-life case study based in the city of Luxembourg, where the objective is to reach the all-electric mode for principal urban buses network. Through the model we investigate: the minimum amount of electric buses necessary to perform a day’s schedule for two currently partially electrified lines, without resorting to conventional internal combustion alternatives; the impact of electrifying two additional lines, specifically considering the trade-offs related to either adding new buses or new charging stations at the bus terminal. Finally, we studied how to best decompose the overall problem in several smaller problems, to be able to solve also realistic scenarios and using large real data sets from the Mobility Data owner of Luxembourg. We analysed and compared two kinds of decomposition: a bus line-based decomposition, and a time-based decomposition. [less ▲]

Deep neural network with high-order neuron for the prediction of foamed concrete strength

in Computer-Aided Civil and Infrastructure Engineering (2018)

The article presents a deep neural network model for the prediction of the compressive strength of foamed concrete. A new, high-order neuron was developed for the deep neural network model to improve the ... [more ▼]

The article presents a deep neural network model for the prediction of the compressive strength of foamed concrete. A new, high-order neuron was developed for the deep neural network model to improve the performance of the model. Moreover, the cross-entropy cost function and rectified linear unit activation function were employed to enhance the performance of the model. The present model was then applied to predict the compressive strength of foamed concrete through a given data set, and the obtained results were compared with other machine learning methods including conventional artificial neural network (C-ANN) and second-order artificial neural network (SO-ANN). To further validate the proposed model, a new data set from the laboratory and a given data set of high-performance concrete were used to obtain a higher degree of confidence in the prediction. It is shown that the proposed model obtained a better prediction, compared to other methods. In contrast to C-ANN and SO-ANN, the proposed model can genuinely improve its performance when training a deep neural network model with multiple hidden layers. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to investigate the effects of the input variables on the compressive strength. The results indicated that the compressive strength of foamed concrete is greatly affected by density, followed by the water-to-cement and sand-to-cement ratios. By providing a reliable prediction tool, the proposed model can aid researchers and engineers in mixture design optimization of foamed concrete. [less ▲]

Demontage von Elektroantrieben mit Assistenzrobotern zum wirtschaftlichen Recycling

in Tagungsband AALE 2016 (2016)

Die zerstörungsfreie Demontage zum Zweck der Refrabrikation oder des höherwertigem Produktrecyclings findet nur selten im industriellen Umfeld Anwendung. Allerdings ist mit einem Anstieg dieses trennenden ... [more ▼]

Die zerstörungsfreie Demontage zum Zweck der Refrabrikation oder des höherwertigem Produktrecyclings findet nur selten im industriellen Umfeld Anwendung. Allerdings ist mit einem Anstieg dieses trennenden Fertigungsverfahrens in naher Zukunft zu rechnen da die immer stärker begrenzten und zugänglichen Ressourcen durch strengere Gesetze im Rahmen der Abfallwirtschaft gesichert werden müssen. Zum Beispiel wurden durch das Kreislaufwirt-schaftsgesetz der europäischen Union [1] die Hersteller dazu verpflichtet Rücknahmesysteme für elektrische und elektronische Geräte zu schaffen um sie einer weiteren wirtschaftlichen Nutzung oder umweltgerechten Entsorgung zugänglich zu machen. Für die umweltgerechte Entsorgung ist eine wertstoffgerechte Trennung der Produktkomponenten vorgesehen. Aus wirtschaftlichen Gründen erfolgt diese Materialtrennung meist verfahrenstechnisch durch Zerkleinern und Sortieren der Wertstoffe. Die weitere wirtschaftliche Nutzung ganzer Kompo-nenten wird, trotz hoher Einsparpotenziale [2], durch den Aufwand der Refabrikation kaum in Betracht gezogen. Denn die zerstörungsfreie Trennung kann bisher meist nur manuell und damit kostenintensiv erfolgen. In der Folge werden gerade im Bereich der Elektroschrottver-wertung häufig illegale Entsorgungswege über das außereuropäische Ausland gewählt [3]. Zur Verbesserung der Wirtschaftlichkeit der Demontage bietet oft die Automatisierung Lösun-gen. Um diesen Sektor der Automatisierung zugänglich zu machen, erfolgten bereits For-schungsaktivitäten zur Automatisierung der Demontage von Fernsehgeräten [4] und PCs [5]. Das Ergebnis dieser Studien zeigt, dass durch die hohe Variation der Produktgestalt oder aufgrund von Beschädigungen der Produkte, der [less ▲]

Derivative recovery and a posteriori error estimate for extended finite elements

in Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics & Engineering (2007), 196(35-36), 3381-3399

This paper is the first attempt at error estimation for extended finite elements. The goal of this work is to devise a simple and effective local a posteriori error estimate for partition of unity ... [more ▼]

This paper is the first attempt at error estimation for extended finite elements. The goal of this work is to devise a simple and effective local a posteriori error estimate for partition of unity enriched finite element methods such as the extended finite element method (XFEM). In each element, the local estimator is the L2 norm of the difference between the raw XFEM strain field and an enhanced strain field computed by extended moving least squares (XMLS) derivative recovery obtained from the raw nodal XFEM displacements. The XMLS construction is tailored to the nature of the solution. The technique is applied to linear elastic fracture mechanics, in which near-tip asymptotic functions are added to the MLS basis. The XMLS shape functions are constructed from weight functions following the diffraction criterion to represent the discontinuity. The result is a very smooth enhanced strain solution including the singularity at the crack tip. Results are shown for two- and three-dimensional linear elastic fracture mechanics problems in mode I and mixed mode. The effectivity index of the estimator is close to 1 and improves upon mesh refinement for the studied near-tip problem. It is also shown that for the linear elastic fracture mechanics problems treated, the proposed estimator outperforms one of the superconvergent patch recovery technique of Zienkiewicz and Zhu, which is only C0. Parametric studies of the general performance of the estimator are also carried out. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. [less ▲]