Numerical Simulations and Tracer Studies as a Tool to Support Water Circulation Modeling in Breeding Reservoirs

The article presents a proposal of a method for computer-aided design and analysis of breeding reservoirs in zoos and aquariums. The method applied involves the use of computer simulations of water circulation in breeding pools. A mathematical model of a pool was developed, and a tracer study was carried out. A simplified model of two-dimensional flow in the form of a biharmonic equation for the stream function (converted into components of the velocity vector) was adopted to describe the flow field. This equation, supplemented by appropriate boundary conditions, was solved numerically by the finite difference method. Next, a tracer migration equation was solved, which was a two-dimensional advection-dispersion equation describing the unsteady transport of a non-active, permanent solute. In order to obtain a proper solution, a tracer study (with rhodamine WT as a tracer) was conducted in situ. The results of these measurements were compared with numerical solutions obtained. The results of numerical simulations made it possible to reconstruct water circulation in the breading pool and to identify still water zones, where water circulation was impeded.

Biogeography-Based Optimization with Orthogonal Crossover

Biogeography-based optimization (BBO) is a new biogeography inspired, population-based algorithm, which mainly uses migration operator to share information among solutions. Similar to crossover operator in genetic algorithm, migration operator is a probabilistic operator and only generates the vertex of a hyperrectangle defined by the emigration and immigration vectors. Therefore, the exploration ability of BBO may be limited. Orthogonal crossover operator with quantization technique (QOX) is based on orthogonal design and can generate representative solution in solution space. In this paper, a BBO variant is presented through embedding the QOX operator in BBO algorithm. Additionally, a modified migration equation is used to improve the population diversity. Several experiments are conducted on 23 benchmark functions. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is capable of locating the optimal or closed-to-optimal solution. Comparisons with other variants of BBO algorithms and state-of-the-art orthogonal-based evolutionary algorithms demonstrate that our proposed algorithm possesses faster global convergence rate, high-precision solution, and stronger robustness. Finally, the analysis result of the performance of QOX indicates that QOX plays a key role in the proposed algorithm.

University Choice and Students` Migration: An Application of the Heckman Model

This study attempts to elucidate the migration patterns of Korean high school students choosing a university. Estimating a migration equation without considering sample-selection bias would yield incorrect results. Thus, this study used the Heckman model. We found that the sample selection bias would be serious in the case of students living in Seoul. We also found that students living in small towns had a 13.1 percent higher probability of migrating than those residing in Seoul, and an 8.2 percent higher probability than those living in other big cities. The differences in the migration probabilities can be interpreted as a preference for metropolitan areas. A simple policy that provides physical and financial resources to the universities would not be successful. A higher-education policy is likely to be effective only when it is implemented in coordination with the cultural and economic policies of the region.

A Model of Discontinuous Dynamic Recrystallization and its Application for Nickel Alloys

A simple mesoscale model was developed for discontinuous dynamic recrystallization. The material is described on a grain scale as a set of (variable) spherical grains. Each grain is characterized by two internal variables: its diameter and dislocation density (assumed homogeneous within the grain). Each grain is then considered in turn as an inclusion, embedded in a homogeneous equivalent matrix, the properties of which are obtained by averaging over all the grains. The model includes: (i) a grain boundary migration equation driving the evolution of grain size via the mobility of grain boundaries, which is coupled with (ii) a dislocation-density evolution equation, such as the Yoshie–Laasraoui–Jonas or Kocks–Mecking relationship, involving strain hardening and dynamic recovery, and (iii) an equation governing the total number of grains in the system due to the nucleation of new grains. The model can be used to predict transient and steady-state flow stresses, recrystallized fractions, and grain-size distributions. A method to fit the model coefficients is also described. The application of the model to pure Ni is presented.

Interpolation and multiple attenuation with migration operators

A hyperbolic Radon transform (RT) can be applied with success to attenuate or interpolate hyperbolic events in seismic data. However, this method fails when the hyperbolic events have apexes located at nonzero offset positions. A different RT operator is required for these cases, an operator that scans for hyperbolas with apexes centered at any offset. This procedure defines an extension of the standard hyperbolic RT with hyperbolic basis functions located at every point of the data gather. The mathematical description of such an operator is basically similar to a kinematic poststack time‐migration equation, with the horizontal coordinate being not midpoint but offset. In this paper, this transformation is implemented by using a least‐squares conjugate gradient algorithm with a sparseness constraint. Two different operators are considered, one in the time domain and the other in the frequency‐wavenumber domain (Stolt operator). The sparseness constraint in the time‐offset domain is essential for resampling and for interpolation. The frequency‐wavenumber domain operator is very efficient, not much more expensive in computation time than a sparse parabolic RT, and much faster than a standard hyperbolic RT. Examples of resampling, interpolation, and coherent noise attenuation using the frequency‐wavenumber domain operator are presented. Near and far offset gaps are interpolated in synthetic and real shot gathers, with simultaneous resampling beyond aliasing. Waveforms are well preserved in general except when there is little coherence in the data outside the gaps or events with very different velocities are located at the same time. Multiples of diffractions are predicted and attenuated by subtraction from the data.