The latest earthquakes have proven that several existing buildings, particularly in developing countries, are not secured from damages of earthquake. A variety of statistical and machine-learning approaches have been proposed to identify vulnerable buildings for the prioritization of retrofitting. The present work aims to investigate earthquake susceptibility through the combination of six building performance variables that can be used to obtain an optimal prediction of the damage state of reinforced concrete buildings using artificial neural network (ANN). In this regard, a multi-layer perceptron network is trained and optimized using a database of 484 damaged buildings from the Düzce earthquake in Turkey. The results demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the selected ANN approach to classify concrete structural damage that can be used as a preliminary assessment technique to identify vulnerable buildings in disaster risk-management programs.
Coronary Artery Disease Diagnosis: Ranking the Significant Features Using a Random Trees Model
(2020)
Heart disease is one of the most common diseases in middle-aged citizens. Among the vast number of heart diseases, coronary artery disease (CAD) is considered as a common cardiovascular disease with a high death rate. The most popular tool for diagnosing CAD is the use of medical imaging, e.g., angiography. However, angiography is known for being costly and also associated with a number of side effects. Hence, the purpose of this study is to increase the accuracy of coronary heart disease diagnosis through selecting significant predictive features in order of their ranking. In this study, we propose an integrated method using machine learning. The machine learning methods of random trees (RTs), decision tree of C5.0, support vector machine (SVM), and decision tree of Chi-squared automatic interaction detection (CHAID) are used in this study. The proposed method shows promising results and the study confirms that the RTs model outperforms other models.
The longitudinal dispersion coefficient (LDC) plays an important role in modeling the transport of pollutants and sediment in natural rivers. As a result of transportation processes, the concentration of pollutants changes along the river. Various studies have been conducted to provide simple equations for estimating LDC. In this study, machine learning methods, namely support vector regression, Gaussian process regression, M5 model tree (M5P) and random forest, and multiple linear regression were examined in predicting the LDC in natural streams. Data sets from 60 rivers around the world with different hydraulic and geometric features were gathered to develop models for LDC estimation. Statistical criteria, including correlation coefficient (CC), root mean squared error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE), were used to scrutinize the models. The LDC values estimated by these models were compared with the corresponding results of common empirical models. The Taylor chart was used to evaluate the models and the results showed that among the machine learning models, M5P had superior performance, with CC of 0.823, RMSE of 454.9 and MAE of 380.9. The model of Sahay and Dutta, with CC of 0.795, RMSE of 460.7 and MAE of 306.1, gave more precise results than the other empirical models. The main advantage of M5P models is their ability to provide practical formulae. In conclusion, the results proved that the developed M5P model with simple formulations was superior to other machine learning models and empirical models; therefore, it can be used as a proper tool for estimating the LDC in rivers.
Accurate prediction of stable alluvial hydraulic geometry, in which erosion and sedimentation are in equilibrium, is one of the most difficult but critical topics in the field of river engineering. Data mining algorithms have been gaining more attention in this field due to their high performance and flexibility. However, an understanding of
the potential for these algorithms to provide fast, cheap, and accurate predictions of hydraulic geometry is lacking. This study provides the first quantification of this potential. Using at-a-station field data, predictions of flow depth, water-surface width and longitudinal water surface slope are made using three standalone data mining techniques -, Instance-based Learning (IBK), KStar, Locally Weighted Learning (LWL) - along with four types of novel hybrid algorithms in which the standalone models are trained with Vote, Attribute Selected
Classifier (ASC), Regression by Discretization (RBD), and Cross-validation Parameter Selection (CVPS) algorithms (Vote-IBK, Vote-Kstar, Vote-LWL, ASC-IBK, ASC-Kstar, ASC-LWL, RBD-IBK, RBD-Kstar, RBD-LWL, CVPSIBK, CVPS-Kstar, CVPS-LWL). Through a comparison of their predictive performance and a sensitivity analysis of the driving variables, the results reveal: (1) Shield stress was the most effective parameter in the prediction of all geometry dimensions; (2) hybrid models had a higher prediction power than standalone data mining models,
empirical equations and traditional machine learning algorithms; (3) Vote-Kstar model had the highest performance in predicting depth and width, and ASC-Kstar in estimating slope, each providing very good prediction performance. Through these algorithms, the hydraulic geometry of any river can potentially be predicted accurately and with ease using just a few, readily available flow and channel parameters. Thus, the results reveal that these models have great potential for use in stable channel design in data poor catchments, especially in developing nations where technical modelling skills and understanding of the hydraulic and sediment processes occurring in the river system may be lacking.
The seismic vulnerability assessment of existing reinforced concrete (RC) buildings is a significant source of disaster mitigation plans and rescue services. Different countries evolved various Rapid Visual Screening (RVS) techniques and methodologies to deal with the devastating consequences of earthquakes on the structural characteristics of buildings and human casualties. Artificial intelligence (AI) methods, such as machine learning (ML) algorithm-based methods, are increasingly used in various scientific and technical applications. The investigation toward using these techniques in civil engineering applications has shown encouraging results and reduced human intervention, including uncertainties and biased judgment. In this study, several known non-parametric algorithms are investigated toward RVS using a dataset employing different earthquakes. Moreover, the methodology encourages the possibility of examining the buildings’ vulnerability based on the factors related to the buildings’ importance and exposure. In addition, a web-based application built on Django is introduced. The interface is designed with the idea to ease the seismic vulnerability investigation in real-time. The concept was validated using two case studies, and the achieved results showed the proposed approach’s potential efficiency
One of the most important subjects of hydraulic engineering is the reliable estimation of the transverse distribution in the rectangular channel of bed and wall shear stresses. This study makes use of the Tsallis entropy, genetic programming (GP) and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) methods to assess the shear stress distribution (SSD) in the rectangular channel.
To evaluate the results of the Tsallis entropy, GP and ANFIS models, laboratory observations were used in which shear stress was measured using an optimized Preston tube. This is then used to measure the SSD in various aspect ratios in the rectangular channel. To investigate the shear stress percentage, 10 data series with a total of 112 different data for were used. The results of the sensitivity analysis show that the most influential parameter for the SSD in smooth rectangular channel is the dimensionless parameter B/H, Where the transverse coordinate is B, and the flow depth is H. With the parameters (b/B), (B/H) for the bed and (z/H), (B/H) for the wall as inputs, the modeling of the GP was better than the other one. Based on the analysis, it can be concluded that the use of GP and ANFIS algorithms is more effective in estimating shear stress in smooth rectangular channels than the Tsallis entropy-based equations.
The study presents a Machine Learning (ML)-based framework designed to forecast the stress-strain relationship of arc-direct energy deposited mild steel. Based on microstructural characteristics previously extracted using microscopy and X-ray diffraction, approximately 1000 new parameter sets are generated by applying the Latin Hypercube Sampling Method (LHSM). For each parameter set, a Representative Volume Element (RVE) is synthetically created via Voronoi Tessellation. Input raw data for ML-based algorithms comprises these parameter sets or RVE-images, while output raw data includes their corresponding stress-strain relationships calculated after a Finite Element (FE) procedure. Input data undergoes preprocessing involving standardization, feature selection, and image resizing. Similarly, the stress-strain curves, initially unsuitable for training traditional ML algorithms, are preprocessed using cubic splines and occasionally Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The later part of the study focuses on employing multiple ML algorithms, utilizing two main models. The first model predicts stress-strain curves based on microstructural parameters, while the second model does so solely from RVE images. The most accurate prediction yields a Root Mean Squared Error of around 5 MPa, approximately 1% of the yield stress. This outcome suggests that ML models offer precise and efficient methods for characterizing dual-phase steels, establishing a framework for accurate results in material analysis.
Polylactic acid (PLA) is a highly applicable material that is used in 3D printers due to some significant features such as its deformation property and affordable cost. For improvement of the end-use quality, it is of significant importance to enhance the quality of fused filament fabrication (FFF)-printed objects in PLA. The purpose of this investigation was to boost toughness and to reduce the production cost of the FFF-printed tensile test samples with the desired part thickness. To remove the need for numerous and idle printing samples, the response surface method (RSM) was used. Statistical analysis was performed to deal with this concern by considering extruder temperature (ET), infill percentage (IP), and layer thickness (LT) as controlled factors. The artificial intelligence method of artificial neural network (ANN) and ANN-genetic algorithm (ANN-GA) were further developed to estimate the toughness, part thickness, and production-cost-dependent variables. Results were evaluated by correlation coefficient and RMSE values. According to the modeling results, ANN-GA as a hybrid machine learning (ML) technique could enhance the accuracy of modeling by about 7.5, 11.5, and 4.5% for toughness, part thickness, and production cost, respectively, in comparison with those for the single ANN method. On the other hand, the optimization results confirm that the optimized specimen is cost-effective and able to comparatively undergo deformation, which enables the usability of printed PLA objects.
In this research, an attempt was made to reduce the dimension of wavelet-ANFIS/ANN (artificial neural network/adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system) models toward reliable forecasts as well as to decrease computational cost. In this regard, the principal component analysis was performed on the input time series decomposed by a discrete wavelet transform to feed the ANN/ANFIS models. The models were applied for dissolved oxygen (DO) forecasting in rivers which is an important variable affecting aquatic life and water quality. The current values of DO, water surface temperature, salinity, and turbidity have been considered as the input variable to forecast DO in a three-time step further. The results of the study revealed that PCA can be employed as a powerful tool for dimension reduction of input variables and also to detect inter-correlation of input variables. Results of the PCA-wavelet-ANN models are compared with those obtained from wavelet-ANN models while the earlier one has the advantage of less computational time than the later models. Dealing with ANFIS models, PCA is more beneficial to avoid wavelet-ANFIS models creating too many rules which deteriorate the efficiency of the ANFIS models. Moreover, manipulating the wavelet-ANFIS models utilizing PCA leads to a significant decreasing in computational time. Finally, it was found that the PCA-wavelet-ANN/ANFIS models can provide reliable forecasts of dissolved oxygen as an important water quality indicator in rivers.
This research aims to model soil temperature (ST) using machine learning models of multilayer perceptron (MLP) algorithm and support vector machine (SVM) in hybrid form with the Firefly optimization algorithm, i.e. MLP-FFA and SVM-FFA. In the current study, measured ST and meteorological parameters of Tabriz and Ahar weather stations in a period of 2013–2015 are used for training and testing of the studied models with one and two days as a delay. To ascertain conclusive results for validation of the proposed hybrid models, the error metrics are benchmarked in an independent testing period. Moreover, Taylor diagrams utilized for that purpose. Obtained results showed that, in a case of one day delay, except in predicting ST at 5 cm below the soil surface (ST5cm) at Tabriz station, MLP-FFA produced superior results compared with MLP, SVM, and SVM-FFA models. However, for two days delay, MLP-FFA indicated increased accuracy in predicting ST5cm and ST 20cm of Tabriz station and ST10cm of Ahar station in comparison with SVM-FFA. Additionally, for all of the prescribed models, the performance of the MLP-FFA and SVM-FFA hybrid models in the testing phase was found to be meaningfully superior to the classical MLP and SVM models.