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Abstract: This paper presents the Expectation Maximization algorithm (EM) applied to operational modal analysis of structures. The EM algorithm is a general-purpose method for maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) that in this work is used to estimate state space models. As it is well known, the MLE enjoys some optimal properties from a statistical point of view, which make it very attractive in practice. However, the EM algorithm has two main drawbacks: its slow convergence and the dependence of the solution on the initial values used. This paper proposes two different strategies to choose initial values for the EM algorithm when used for operational modal analysis: to begin with the parameters estimated by Stochastic Subspace Identification method (SSI) and to start using random points. The effectiveness of the proposed identification method has been evaluated through numerical simulation and measured vibration data in the context of a benchmark problem. Modal parameters (natural frequencies, damping ratios and mode shapes) of the benchmark structure have been estimated using SSI and the EM algorithm. On the whole, the results show that the application of the EM algorithm starting from the solution given by SSI is very useful to identify the vibration modes of a structure, discarding the spurious modes that appear in high order models and discovering other hidden modes. Similar results are obtained using random starting values, although this strategy allows us to analyze the solution of several starting points what overcome the dependence on the initial values used. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Blind source separation (BSS) based methods have been shown to be efficient and powerful to perform output-only modal identification. Existing BSS modal identification methods, however, require the number of sensors at least equal to that of sources (active modes). This paper proposes a new modal identification algorithm based on a novel BSS technique termed sparse component analysis (SCA) to handle even the underdetermined problem where sensors may be highly limited compared to the number of active modes. The developed SCA method reveals the essence of modal expansion that the monotone modal responses with disjoint sparsest representations in frequency domain naturally cluster in the directions of the mode matrix's columns (modeshapes), which are readily extracted from the measured system responses using a simple clustering algorithm. Then, in determined case where sensor number equals that of modes, the estimated square mode matrix directly decouples the system responses to obtain the modal responses, whereby computing their frequencies and damping ratios; whereas with limited sensors, the modal responses are efficiently recovered via the -minimization sparse recovery technique from the incomplete knowledge of the partial mode matrix and the system responses of inadequate sensors. Numerical simulations and experimental example show that whether in determined or underdetermined situations, the SCA method performs accurate and robust identification of a wide range of structures including those with closely-spaced and highly-damped modes. The SCA method is simple and efficient to conduct reliable output-only modal identification even with limited sensors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Chirp, especially strong chirp, can be used to control the pulses in optical fibers, but it makes numerical simulation difficult by using the time-domain beam propagation method (TD-BPM) because of more sampling data requirements. In this paper, we present a modified beam propagation method (M-BPM) to efficiently simulate the propagation of strongly chirped pulses along an optical fiber. The validity of the M-BPM is demonstrated both theoretically and numerically. Numerical simulations show that the number of samples in time necessary to simulate the chirped pulse propagation by the TD-BPM varies linearly with the initial chirp parameter, but that of the M-BPM is the same one would need to simulate the propagation of the envelope without the initial chirp. In addition, the closer the propagation distance is to the temporal focal length, the more efficient the M-BPM comparing with the TD-BPM is. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Unstructured meshes are in widespread use throughout computational physics, but calculating diagnostics of simulations on such meshes can be challenging. For example, in geophysical fluid dynamics, it is frequently desirable to compute directional integrals such as vertical integrals and zonal averages; however, it is difficult to compute these on meshes with no inherent spatial structure. This is widely regarded as an obstacle to the adoption of unstructured mesh numerical modelling in this field. In this paper, we describe an algorithm by which one can exactly compute such directional integrals on arbitrarily unstructured meshes. This is achieved via the solution of a problem of computational geometry, constructing the supermesh of two meshes. We demonstrate the utility of this approach by applying it to a classical geophysical fluid dynamics system: the thermally driven rotating annulus. This addresses an important objection to the more widespread use of unstructured mesh modelling. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, we address three issues concerning data replica placement in hierarchical Data Grids that can be presented as tree structures. The first is how to ensure load balance among replicas. To achieve this, we propose a placement algorithm that finds the optimal locations for replicas so that their workload is balanced. The second issue is how to minimize the number of replicas. To solve this problem, we propose an algorithm that determines the minimum number of replicas required when the maximum workload capacity of each replica server is known. Finally, we address the issue of service quality by proposing a new model in which each request must be given a quality-of-service guarantee. We describe new algorithms that ensure both workload balance and quality of service simultaneously. We conduct extensive simulation experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of our algorithms. The comparison with the previous Affinity Replica Location Policy demonstrates that our algorithms consistently outperform the heuristic algorithm both in terms of minimum number of replicas used and the actual data transmission time. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Most existed LMS algorithms have noisy gradient estimate since they use instantaneous square error to estimate ensemble average of the square errors. In this paper, a new type of LMS algorithm is developed for active noise control. The gradient estimate in the proposed algorithm is improved by using the weighted time average instead of the instantaneous value to approximate the ensemble average. Compared to the filtered-x LMS algorithm, the proposed algorithm is shown to have many improved convergence properties. Computer simulations are given to support the theoretical analysis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]