TY - THES A1 - Azari, Banafsheh T1 - Bidirectional Texture Functions: Acquisition, Rendering and Quality Evaluation N2 - As one of its primary objectives, Computer Graphics aims at the simulation of fabrics’ complex reflection behaviour. Characteristic surface reflectance of fabrics, such as highlights, anisotropy or retro-reflection arise the difficulty of synthesizing. This problem can be solved by using Bidirectional Texture Functions (BTFs), a 2D-texture under various light and view direction. But the acquisition of Bidirectional Texture Functions requires an expensive setup and the measurement process is very time-consuming. Moreover, the size of BTF data can range from hundreds of megabytes to several gigabytes, as a large number of high resolution pictures have to be used in any ideal cases. Furthermore, the three-dimensional textured models rendered through BTF rendering method are subject to various types of distortion during acquisition, synthesis, compression, and processing. An appropriate image quality assessment scheme is a useful tool for evaluating image processing algorithms, especially algorithms designed to leave the image visually unchanged. In this contribution, we present and conduct an investigation aimed at locating a robust threshold for downsampling BTF images without loosing perceptual quality. To this end, an experimental study on how decreasing the texture resolution influences perceived quality of the rendered images has been presented and discussed. Next, two basic improvements to the use of BTFs for rendering are presented: firstly, the study addresses the cost of BTF acquisition by introducing a flexible low-cost step motor setup for BTF acquisition allowing to generate a high quality BTF database taken at user-defined arbitrary angles. Secondly, the number of acquired textures to the perceptual quality of renderings is adapted so that the database size is not overloaded and can fit better in memory when rendered. Although visual attention is one of the essential attributes of HVS, it is neglected in most existing quality metrics. In this thesis an appropriate objective quality metric based on extracting visual attention regions from images and adequate investigation of the influence of visual attention on perceived image quality assessment, called Visual Attention Based Image Quality Metric (VABIQM), has been proposed. The novel metric indicates that considering visual saliency can offer significant benefits with regard to constructing objective quality metrics to predict the visible quality differences in images rendered by compressed and non-compressed BTFs and also outperforms straightforward existing image quality metrics at detecting perceivable differences. KW - Wahrnehmung KW - Bildqualität KW - BTF Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:gbv:wim2-20180820-37790 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mosavi, Amir A1 - Hosseini Imani, Mahmood A1 - Zalzar, Shaghayegh A1 - Shamshirband, Shahaboddin T1 - Strategic Behavior of Retailers for Risk Reduction and Profit Increment via Distributed Generators and Demand Response Programs JF - Energies N2 - Following restructuring of power industry, electricity supply to end-use customers has undergone fundamental changes. In the restructured power system, some of the responsibilities of the vertically integrated distribution companies have been assigned to network managers and retailers. Under the new situation, retailers are in charge of providing electrical energy to electricity consumers who have already signed contract with them. Retailers usually provide the required energy at a variable price, from wholesale electricity markets, forward contracts with energy producers, or distributed energy generators, and sell it at a fixed retail price to its clients. Different strategies are implemented by retailers to reduce the potential financial losses and risks associated with the uncertain nature of wholesale spot electricity market prices and electrical load of the consumers. In this paper, the strategic behavior of retailers in implementing forward contracts, distributed energy sources, and demand-response programs with the aim of increasing their profit and reducing their risk, while keeping their retail prices as low as possible, is investigated. For this purpose, risk management problem of the retailer companies collaborating with wholesale electricity markets, is modeled through bi-level programming approach and a comprehensive framework for retail electricity pricing, considering customers’ constraints, is provided in this paper. In the first level of the proposed bi-level optimization problem, the retailer maximizes its expected profit for a given risk level of profit variability, while in the second level, the customers minimize their consumption costs. The proposed programming problem is modeled as Mixed Integer programming (MIP) problem and can be efficiently solved using available commercial solvers. The simulation results on a test case approve the effectiveness of the proposed demand-response program based on dynamic pricing approach on reducing the retailer’s risk and increasing its profit. In this paper, the decision-making problem of the retailers under dynamic pricing approach for demand response integration have been investigated. The retailer was supposed to rely on forward contracts, DGs, and spot electricity market to supply the required active and reactive power of its customers. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed model, four schemes for retailer’s scheduling problem are considered and the resulted profit under each scheme are analyzed and compared. The simulation results on a test case indicate that providing more options for the retailer to buy the required power of its customers and increase its flexibility in buying energy from spot electricity market reduces the retailers’ risk and increases its profit. From the customers’ perspective also the retailers’accesstodifferentpowersupplysourcesmayleadtoareductionintheretailelectricityprices. Since the retailer would be able to decrease its electricity selling price to the customers without losing its profitability, with the aim of attracting more customers. Inthiswork,theconditionalvalueatrisk(CVaR)measureisusedforconsideringandquantifying riskinthedecision-makingproblems. Amongallthepossibleoptioninfrontoftheretailertooptimize its profit and risk, demand response programs are the most beneficial option for both retailer and its customers. The simulation results on the case study prove that implementing dynamic pricing approach on retail electricity prices to integrate demand response programs can successfully provoke customers to shift their flexible demand from peak-load hours to mid-load and low-load hours. Comparing the simulation results of the third and fourth schemes evidences the impact of DRPs and customers’ load shifting on the reduction of retailer’s risk, as well as the reduction of retailer’s payment to contract holders, DG owners, and spot electricity market. Furthermore, the numerical results imply on the potential of reducing average retail prices up to 8%, under demand response activation. Consequently, it provides a win–win solution for both retailer and its customers. KW - Risikomanagement KW - demand response programs KW - stochastic programming KW - forward contracts KW - risk management KW - retailer KW - OA-Publikationsfonds2018 Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:gbv:wim2-20180628-37546 UR - http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/6/1602 VL - 2018 IS - 11, 6 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ghazvinei, Pezhman Taherei A1 - Darvishi, Hossein Hassanpour A1 - Mosavi, Amir A1 - Yusof, Khamaruzaman bin Wan A1 - Alizamir, Meysam A1 - Shamshirband, Shahaboddin A1 - Chau, Kwok-Wing T1 - Sugarcane growth prediction based on meteorological parameters using extreme learning machine and artificial neural network JF - Engineering Applications of Computational Fluid Mechanics N2 - Management strategies for sustainable sugarcane production need to deal with the increasing complexity and variability of the whole sugar system. Moreover, they need to accommodate the multiple goals of different industry sectors and the wider community. Traditional disciplinary approaches are unable to provide integrated management solutions, and an approach based on whole systems analysis is essential to bring about beneficial change to industry and the community. The application of this approach to water management, environmental management and cane supply management is outlined, where the literature indicates that the application of extreme learning machine (ELM) has never been explored in this realm. Consequently, the leading objective of the current research was set to filling this gap by applying ELM to launch swift and accurate model for crop production data-driven. The key learning has been the need for innovation both in the technical aspects of system function underpinned by modelling of sugarcane growth. Therefore, the current study is an attempt to establish an integrate model using ELM to predict the concluding growth amount of sugarcane. Prediction results were evaluated and further compared with artificial neural network (ANN) and genetic programming models. Accuracy of the ELM model is calculated using the statistics indicators of Root Means Square Error (RMSE), Pearson Coefficient (r), and Coefficient of Determination (R2) with promising results of 0.8, 0.47, and 0.89, respectively. The results also show better generalization ability in addition to faster learning curve. Thus, proficiency of the ELM for supplementary work on advancement of prediction model for sugarcane growth was approved with promising results. KW - Künstliche Intelligenz KW - Sustainable production KW - ELM KW - prediction KW - machine learning KW - sugarcane KW - estimation KW - growth mode KW - extreme learning machine KW - OA-Publikationsfonds2018 Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:gbv:wim2-20181017-38129 UR - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19942060.2018.1526119 VL - 2018 IS - 12,1 SP - 738 EP - 749 PB - Taylor & Francis ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Faizollahzadeh Ardabili, Sina A1 - Najafi, Bahman A1 - Alizamir, Meysam A1 - Mosavi, Amir A1 - Shamshirband, Shahaboddin A1 - Rabczuk, Timon T1 - Using SVM-RSM and ELM-RSM Approaches for Optimizing the Production Process of Methyl and Ethyl Esters JF - Energies N2 - The production of a desired product needs an effective use of the experimental model. The present study proposes an extreme learning machine (ELM) and a support vector machine (SVM) integrated with the response surface methodology (RSM) to solve the complexity in optimization and prediction of the ethyl ester and methyl ester production process. The novel hybrid models of ELM-RSM and ELM-SVM are further used as a case study to estimate the yield of methyl and ethyl esters through a trans-esterification process from waste cooking oil (WCO) based on American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards. The results of the prediction phase were also compared with artificial neural networks (ANNs) and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), which were recently developed by the second author of this study. Based on the results, an ELM with a correlation coefficient of 0.9815 and 0.9863 for methyl and ethyl esters, respectively, had a high estimation capability compared with that for SVM, ANNs, and ANFIS. Accordingly, the maximum production yield was obtained in the case of using ELM-RSM of 96.86% for ethyl ester at a temperature of 68.48 °C, a catalyst value of 1.15 wt. %, mixing intensity of 650.07 rpm, and an alcohol to oil molar ratio (A/O) of 5.77; for methyl ester, the production yield was 98.46% at a temperature of 67.62 °C, a catalyst value of 1.1 wt. %, mixing intensity of 709.42 rpm, and an A/O of 6.09. Therefore, ELM-RSM increased the production yield by 3.6% for ethyl ester and 3.1% for methyl ester, compared with those for the experimental data. KW - Biodiesel KW - Optimierung KW - extreme learning machine KW - machine learning KW - response surface methodology KW - support vector machine KW - OA-Publikationsfonds2018 Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:gbv:wim2-20181025-38170 UR - https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/11/2889 IS - 11, 2889 SP - 1 EP - 20 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - THES A1 - Schollmeyer, Andre T1 - Efficient and High-Quality Rendering of Higher-Order Geometric Data Representations N2 - Computer-Aided Design (CAD) bezeichnet den Entwurf industrieller Produkte mit Hilfe von virtuellen 3D Modellen. Ein CAD-Modell besteht aus parametrischen Kurven und Flächen, in den meisten Fällen non-uniform rational B-Splines (NURBS). Diese mathematische Beschreibung wird ebenfalls zur Analyse, Optimierung und Präsentation des Modells verwendet. In jeder dieser Entwicklungsphasen wird eine unterschiedliche visuelle Darstellung benötigt, um den entsprechenden Nutzern ein geeignetes Feedback zu geben. Designer bevorzugen beispielsweise illustrative oder realistische Darstellungen, Ingenieure benötigen eine verständliche Visualisierung der Simulationsergebnisse, während eine immersive 3D Darstellung bei einer Benutzbarkeitsanalyse oder der Designauswahl hilfreich sein kann. Die interaktive Darstellung von NURBS-Modellen und -Simulationsdaten ist jedoch aufgrund des hohen Rechenaufwandes und der eingeschränkten Hardwareunterstützung eine große Herausforderung. Diese Arbeit stellt vier neuartige Verfahren vor, welche sich mit der interaktiven Darstellung von NURBS-Modellen und Simulationensdaten befassen. Die vorgestellten Algorithmen nutzen neue Fähigkeiten aktueller Grafikkarten aus, um den Stand der Technik bezüglich Qualität, Effizienz und Darstellungsgeschwindigkeit zu verbessern. Zwei dieser Verfahren befassen sich mit der direkten Darstellung der parametrischen Beschreibung ohne Approximationen oder zeitaufwändige Vorberechnungen. Die dabei vorgestellten Datenstrukturen und Algorithmen ermöglichen die effiziente Unterteilung, Klassifizierung, Tessellierung und Darstellung getrimmter NURBS-Flächen und einen interaktiven Ray-Casting-Algorithmus für die Isoflächenvisualisierung von NURBSbasierten isogeometrischen Analysen. Die weiteren zwei Verfahren beschreiben zum einen das vielseitige Konzept der programmierbaren Transparenz für illustrative und verständliche Visualisierungen tiefenkomplexer CAD-Modelle und zum anderen eine neue hybride Methode zur Reprojektion halbtransparenter und undurchsichtiger Bildinformation für die Beschleunigung der Erzeugung von stereoskopischen Bildpaaren. Die beiden letztgenannten Ansätze basieren auf rasterisierter Geometrie und sind somit ebenfalls für normale Dreiecksmodelle anwendbar, wodurch die Arbeiten auch einen wichtigen Beitrag in den Bereichen der Computergrafik und der virtuellen Realität darstellen. Die Auswertung der Arbeit wurde mit großen, realen NURBS-Datensätzen durchgeführt. Die Resultate zeigen, dass die direkte Darstellung auf Grundlage der parametrischen Beschreibung mit interaktiven Bildwiederholraten und in subpixelgenauer Qualität möglich ist. Die Einführung programmierbarer Transparenz ermöglicht zudem die Umsetzung kollaborativer 3D Interaktionstechniken für die Exploration der Modelle in virtuellenUmgebungen sowie illustrative und verständliche Visualisierungen tiefenkomplexer CAD-Modelle. Die Erzeugung stereoskopischer Bildpaare für die interaktive Visualisierung auf 3D Displays konnte beschleunigt werden. Diese messbare Verbesserung wurde zudem im Rahmen einer Nutzerstudie als wahrnehmbar und vorteilhaft befunden. N2 - In computer-aided design (CAD), industrial products are designed using a virtual 3D model. A CAD model typically consists of curves and surfaces in a parametric representation, in most cases, non-uniform rational B-splines (NURBS). The same representation is also used for the analysis, optimization and presentation of the model. In each phase of this process, different visualizations are required to provide an appropriate user feedback. Designers work with illustrative and realistic renderings, engineers need a comprehensible visualization of the simulation results, and usability studies or product presentations benefit from using a 3D display. However, the interactive visualization of NURBS models and corresponding physical simulations is a challenging task because of the computational complexity and the limited graphics hardware support. This thesis proposes four novel rendering approaches that improve the interactive visualization of CAD models and their analysis. The presented algorithms exploit latest graphics hardware capabilities to advance the state-of-the-art in terms of quality, efficiency and performance. In particular, two approaches describe the direct rendering of the parametric representation without precomputed approximations and timeconsuming pre-processing steps. New data structures and algorithms are presented for the efficient partition, classification, tessellation, and rendering of trimmed NURBS surfaces as well as the first direct isosurface ray-casting approach for NURBS-based isogeometric analysis. The other two approaches introduce the versatile concept of programmable order-independent semi-transparency for the illustrative and comprehensible visualization of depth-complex CAD models, and a novel method for the hybrid reprojection of opaque and semi-transparent image information to accelerate stereoscopic rendering. Both approaches are also applicable to standard polygonal geometry which contributes to the computer graphics and virtual reality research communities. The evaluation is based on real-world NURBS-based models and simulation data. The results show that rendering can be performed directly on the underlying parametric representation with interactive frame rates and subpixel-precise image results. The computational costs of additional visualization effects, such as semi-transparency and stereoscopic rendering, are reduced to maintain interactive frame rates. The benefit of this performance gain was confirmed by quantitative measurements and a pilot user study. KW - Rendering KW - CAD KW - NURBS KW - Computer-Aided Design KW - Isogeometric Analysis KW - Graphics hardware Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:gbv:wim2-20181120-38234 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Fedior, Marco A1 - Hamel, Wido ED - Steiner, Maria ED - Theiler, Michael ED - Mirboland, Mahsa T1 - Simulationsumgebung zur Evaluation von umweltorientierten Verkehrsmanagement-Strategien T2 - 30. Forum Bauinformatik N2 - Der vorliegende Beitrag beschreibt die Problematik bei der Prognose verkehrsbedingter Schadstoff-Immissionen. Im Mittelpunkt steht die Entwicklung und der Aufbau einer Simulationsumgebung zur Evaluation von umweltorientierten Verkehrsmanagement-Strategien. Die Simulationsumgebung wird über die drei Felder Verkehr, Emission, Immission entwickelt und findet zunächst Anwendung in der Evaluation verkehrlicher Maßnahmen für die Friedberger Landstraße in Frankfurt am Main. KW - Verkehr KW - Simulation KW - Emission KW - Luftverunreinigender Stoff Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:gbv:wim2-20190328-38678 ER - TY - INPR A1 - Steiner, Maria A1 - Bourinet, Jean-Marc A1 - Lahmer, Tom T1 - An adaptive sampling method for global sensitivity analysis based on least-squares support vector regression N2 - In the field of engineering, surrogate models are commonly used for approximating the behavior of a physical phenomenon in order to reduce the computational costs. Generally, a surrogate model is created based on a set of training data, where a typical method for the statistical design is the Latin hypercube sampling (LHS). Even though a space filling distribution of the training data is reached, the sampling process takes no information on the underlying behavior of the physical phenomenon into account and new data cannot be sampled in the same distribution if the approximation quality is not sufficient. Therefore, in this study we present a novel adaptive sampling method based on a specific surrogate model, the least-squares support vector regresson. The adaptive sampling method generates training data based on the uncertainty in local prognosis capabilities of the surrogate model - areas of higher uncertainty require more sample data. The approach offers a cost efficient calculation due to the properties of the least-squares support vector regression. The opportunities of the adaptive sampling method are proven in comparison with the LHS on different analytical examples. Furthermore, the adaptive sampling method is applied to the calculation of global sensitivity values according to Sobol, where it shows faster convergence than the LHS method. With the applications in this paper it is shown that the presented adaptive sampling method improves the estimation of global sensitivity values, hence reducing the overall computational costs visibly. KW - Approximation KW - Sensitivitätsanalyse KW - Abtastung KW - Surrogate models KW - Least-squares support vector regression KW - Adaptive sampling method KW - Global sensitivity analysis KW - Sampling Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:gbv:wim2-20181218-38320 N1 - This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0951832017311808, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ress.2018.11.015. SP - 1 EP - 33 ER - TY - INPR A1 - Rezakazemi, Mashallah A1 - Mosavi, Amir A1 - Shirazian, Saeed T1 - ANFIS pattern for molecular membranes separation optimization N2 - In this work, molecular separation of aqueous-organic was simulated by using combined soft computing-mechanistic approaches. The considered separation system was a microporous membrane contactor for separation of benzoic acid from water by contacting with an organic phase containing extractor molecules. Indeed, extractive separation is carried out using membrane technology where complex of solute-organic is formed at the interface. The main focus was to develop a simulation methodology for prediction of concentration distribution of solute (benzoic acid) in the feed side of the membrane system, as the removal efficiency of the system is determined by concentration distribution of the solute in the feed channel. The pattern of Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) was optimized by finding the optimum membership function, learning percentage, and a number of rules. The ANFIS was trained using the extracted data from the CFD simulation of the membrane system. The comparisons between the predicted concentration distribution by ANFIS and CFD data revealed that the optimized ANFIS pattern can be used as a predictive tool for simulation of the process. The R2 of higher than 0.99 was obtained for the optimized ANFIS model. The main privilege of the developed methodology is its very low computational time for simulation of the system and can be used as a rigorous simulation tool for understanding and design of membrane-based systems. Highlights are, Molecular separation using microporous membranes. Developing hybrid model based on ANFIS-CFD for the separation process, Optimization of ANFIS structure for prediction of separation process KW - Fluid KW - Simulation KW - Molecular Liquids KW - optimization KW - machine learning KW - Membrane contactors KW - CFD Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:gbv:wim2-20181122-38212 N1 - This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167732218345008, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molliq.2018.11.017. VL - 2018 SP - 1 EP - 20 ER - TY - INPR A1 - Kavrakov, Igor A1 - Morgenthal, Guido T1 - A synergistic study of a CFD and semi-analytical models for aeroelastic analysis of bridges in turbulent wind conditions N2 - Long-span bridges are prone to wind-induced vibrations. Therefore, a reliable representation of the aerodynamic forces acting on a bridge deck is of a major significance for the design of such structures. This paper presents a systematic study of the two-dimensional (2D) fluid-structure interaction of a bridge deck under smooth and turbulent wind conditions. Aerodynamic forces are modeled by two approaches: a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model and six semi-analytical models. The vortex particle method is utilized for the CFD model and the free-stream turbulence is introduced by seeding vortex particles upstream of the deck with prescribed spectral characteristics. The employed semi-analytical models are based on the quasi-steady and linear unsteady assumptions and aerodynamic coefficients obtained from CFD analyses. The underlying assumptions of the semi-analytical aerodynamic models are used to interpret the results of buffeting forces and aeroelastic response due to a free-stream turbulence in comparison with the CFD model. Extensive discussions are provided to analyze the effect of linear fluid memory and quasi-steady nonlinearity from a CFD perspective. The outcome of the analyses indicates that the fluid memory is a governing effect in the buffeting forces and aeroelastic response, while the effect of the nonlinearity is overestimated by the quasi-steady models. Finally, flutter analyses are performed and the obtained critical velocities are further compared with wind tunnel results, followed by a brief examination of the post-flutter behavior. The results of this study provide a deeper understanding of the extent of which the applied models are able to replicate the physical processes for fluid-structure interaction phenomena in bridge aerodynamics and aeroelasticity. KW - Ingenieurwissenschaften KW - Aerodynamik KW - Bridge KW - Aerodynamic nonlinearity KW - Fluid memory KW - Vortex particle method KW - Buffeting KW - Flutter Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:gbv:wim2-20200206-40873 N1 - This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0889974617308423?via%3Dihub, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfluidstructs.2018.06.013 ER - TY - INPR A1 - Mosavi, Amir A1 - Torabi, Mehrnoosh A1 - Hashemi, Sattar A1 - Saybani, Mahmoud Reza A1 - Shamshirband, Shahaboddin T1 - A Hybrid Clustering and Classification Technique for Forecasting Short-Term Energy Consumption N2 - Electrical energy distributor companies in Iran have to announce their energy demand at least three 3-day ahead of the market opening. Therefore, an accurate load estimation is highly crucial. This research invoked methodology based on CRISP data mining and used SVM, ANN, and CBA-ANN-SVM (a novel hybrid model of clustering with both widely used ANN and SVM) to predict short-term electrical energy demand of Bandarabbas. In previous studies, researchers introduced few effective parameters with no reasonable error about Bandarabbas power consumption. In this research we tried to recognize all efficient parameters and with the use of CBA-ANN-SVM model, the rate of error has been minimized. After consulting with experts in the field of power consumption and plotting daily power consumption for each week, this research showed that official holidays and weekends have impact on the power consumption. When the weather gets warmer, the consumption of electrical energy increases due to turning on electrical air conditioner. Also, con-sumption patterns in warm and cold months are different. Analyzing power consumption of the same month for different years had shown high similarity in power consumption patterns. Factors with high impact on power consumption were identified and statistical methods were utilized to prove their impacts. Using SVM, ANN and CBA-ANN-SVM, the model was built. Sine the proposed method (CBA-ANN-SVM) has low MAPE 5 1.474 (4 clusters) and MAPE 5 1.297 (3 clusters) in comparison with SVM (MAPE 5 2.015) and ANN (MAPE 5 1.790), this model was selected as the final model. The final model has the benefits from both models and the benefits of clustering. Clustering algorithm with discovering data structure, divides data into several clusters based on similarities and differences between them. Because data inside each cluster are more similar than entire data, modeling in each cluster will present better results. For future research, we suggest using fuzzy methods and genetic algorithm or a hybrid of both to forecast each cluster. It is also possible to use fuzzy methods or genetic algorithms or a hybrid of both without using clustering. It is issued that such models will produce better and more accurate results. This paper presents a hybrid approach to predict the electric energy usage of weather-sensitive loads. The presented methodutilizes the clustering paradigm along with ANN and SVMapproaches for accurate short-term prediction of electric energyusage, using weather data. Since the methodology beinginvoked in this research is based on CRISP data mining, datapreparation has received a gr eat deal of attention in thisresear ch. Once data pre-processing was done, the underlyingpattern of electric energy consumption was extracted by themeans of machine learning methods to precisely forecast short-term energy consumption. The proposed approach (CBA-ANN-SVM) was applied to real load data and resulting higher accu-racy comparing to the existing models. 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 2018 https://doi.org/10.1002/ep.12934 KW - Data Mining KW - support vector machine (SVM) KW - Machine Learning KW - forecasting KW - Prediction KW - Electric Energy Consumption KW - clustering KW - artificial neural networks (ANN) Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:gbv:wim2-20180907-37550 N1 - This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ep.12934, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/ep.12934. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. ER - TY - THES A1 - Lang, Kevin T1 - Argument Search with Voice Assistants N2 - The need for finding persuasive arguments can arise in a variety of domains such as politics, finance, marketing or personal entertainment. In these domains, there is a demand to make decisions by oneself or to convince somebody about a specific topic. To obtain a conclusion, one has to search thoroughly different sources in literature and on the web to compare various arguments. Voice interfaces, in form of smartphone applications or smart speakers, present the user with natural conversations in a comfortable way to make search requests in contrast to a traditional search interface with keyboard and display. Benefits and obstacles of such a new interface are analyzed by conducting two studies. The first one consists of a survey for analyzing the target group with questions about situations, motivations, and possible demanding features. The latter one is a wizard-of-oz experiment to investigate possible queries on how a user formulates requests to such a novel system. The results indicate that a search interface with conversational abilities can build a helpful assistant, but to satisfy the demands of a broader audience some additional information retrieval and visualization features need to be implemented. KW - Amazon Alexa KW - Argument KW - Suche KW - Stimme KW - Assistent KW - alexa KW - voice KW - assistant KW - arguments KW - search Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:gbv:wim2-20190617-39353 ER -