With more businesses are running online, the scale of data centers is increasing dramatically. The task-scheduling operation with traditional heuristic algorithms is facing the challenges of uncertainty and complexity of the data center environment. It is urgent to use new technology to optimize the task scheduling to ensure the efficient task execution. This study aimed at building a new scheduling model with deep reinforcement learning algorithm, which integrated the task scheduling with resource-utilization optimization. The proposed scheduling model was trained, tested, (...) and compared with classical scheduling algorithms on real data center datasets in experiments to show the effectiveness and efficiency. The experiment report showed that the proposed algorithm worked better than the compared classical algorithms in the key performance metrics: average delay time of tasks, task distribution in different delay time levels, and task congestion degree. (shrink)

This paper delves into a two-agent scheduling problem in which two agents are competing for a single resource. Each agent has a set of jobs to be processed by a single machine. The processing time, release time, weight, and the due dates of each job are known in advance. Both agents have their objectives, which are conflicting in nature. The first agent tries to minimize the total completion time, while the second agent tries to minimize the number of tardy jobs. (...) The two agents’ scheduling problem, an NP-hard problem, has a wide variety of applications ranging from the manufacturing industry to the cloud computing service provider. Due to the wide applicability, each variation of the problem requires a different algorithm, adapted according to the user’s requirements. This paper provides mathematical models, heuristic algorithms, and two nature-based metaheuristic algorithms to solve the problem. The algorithm’s performance was gauged against the optimal solution obtained from the AMPL-CPLEX solver for both solution quality and computational time. The outlined metaheuristics produce a solution that is comparable with a short computational time. The proposed metaheuristics even have a better solution than the CPLEX solver for medium-size problems, whereas the computation times are much less than the CPLEX solvers. (shrink)

One of the major contradictions in China’s healthcare service is the serious imbalance between the supply and demand of medical resources and the uneven distribution of medical resources. Although the government intended to provide equal access for all, in the final evaluation, fairness of the distribution of services was usually dictated by location. Measuring and predicting access to social services can help to adjust and better accommodate underserved regions. 3SFCA modes based on the Gaussian function are proposed to delineate the (...) service area of providers delivering social services and produce a probability metric that maps the equity of the medical services in multiple traffic modes. We identified the types of medical shortage areas and analyzed the distribution characteristics of medical accessibility in Guangzhou. The results showed that the accessibility of medical facilities in the multiple traffic modes varied greatly. The accessibility level of medical service resources was the highest in the driving mode, followed by the public traffic mode and bike-riding mode. The walking mode had the lowest accessibility. Finally, the paper provided advice for further improvement of the equal distribution of medical service resources in Guangzhou. (shrink)

Adults increase the certainty of their inductive inferences by observing more diverse instances. However, most young children fail to do so. The present study tested the hypothesis that children's sensitivity to instance diversity is determined by three variables: ability to discriminate among instances ( Discrimination ); an intuition that large numbers of instances increase the strength of conclusion ( Monotonicity ); ability to detect subcategories and evaluate numerical differences between the subcategories, or Extraction . A total of 219 Chinese children (...) aged 6 to 11 were tested for sensitivity to diversity by means of Discrimination, Monotonicity, and Extraction. The results indicated that children at all ages were able to discriminate instances and attend to set size. However, only 9- and 11-year-olds demonstrated Extraction and sensitivity to diversity. Furthermore, among all children diversity scores increased linearly with the level of Extraction. These results suggest that the law of large numbers plays a role in children's diversity-based reasoning. (shrink)

The main goal of this paper is to analyse the effect of high school scholarships tied to community service on the development of secondary school students in Northwest China. Using data from three rounds of surveys of thousands of students in 298 classes in 75 high schools in Shaanxi province, the paper documents the implementation of the Compassionate Heart Scholars Program and evaluates the effect of the programme on the educational performance, self?esteem, self?efficacy and social responsibility of the participants. We (...) present evidence that part of the protocol of the programme (which includes the nomination and election of programme participants) improves the academic performance and self?esteem of those involved in the programme. The community service part of the programme is shown to raise the self?efficacy and the sense of social responsibility of the programme participants. One striking result is that the test scores of the community service participants do not appear to be adversely affected, even though they spend considerable time doing community service. The findings of this study, therefore, suggest that adding extra?curricular community service to school curricula may be a win?win?win strategy, for the students, for schools and for the local communities served. (shrink)

Clinical studies as well as hundreds of case reports have indicated that Yan Xin Life Science Technology has enabled human participants to live a normal life with little or no food intake for prolonged periods—a state referred to as bigu. Bigu is described in historical records as “taking in qi to avoid food,” and is regarded as a special technique to achieve a long and healthy life. In this study, experiments were designed to study whether cells in vitro can survive (...) without commonly acknowledged essential nutrients after receiving external qi treatments from Dr. Yan Xin, a chief physician and a renowned life scientist. Results reported here indicate that mouse hybridoma cells can survive in Dulbeco’s modified Eagles medium without serum or in phosphate-buffered saline buffer without other nutrient ingredients after qi treatment. These results are the first evidence that a cellular equivalent of the human bigu phenomenon or cellular bigu phenomenon may occur. (shrink)

This study investigated Chinese university students’ technology-assisted self-regulated learning strategies and whether the technology-based SRL strategies mediated the associations between English language self-efficacy, English enjoyment, and learning outcomes. Data were collected from 525 undergraduate students in mainland China through three self-report questionnaires and the performance on an English language proficiency test. While students reported an overall moderate level of SRL strategies, they reported a high level of technology-based vocabulary learning strategies. A statistically significant positive relationship was noted between the use (...) of technology-based SRL strategies and students’ English learning outcomes. English language self-efficacy and English language enjoyment were both related to technology-based SRL strategies. Furthermore, SRL strategies fully mediated the relationship between English enjoyment and English learning outcomes, but the association between English enjoyment and SRL strategies was only partially mediated by English language self-efficacy. Pedagogically, findings of this study suggest that training and instruction aimed at promotion of modern educational technology among students need to give attention to developing their strategic awareness of motivation regulation in optimizing effectiveness of their technology use in learning the target language. (shrink)

In complex smart grid, the power maintenance robot is important equipment to ensure the reliable operation of high-voltage lines and it is a useful exploration to realize high-quality power transmission. In view of the increasingly prominent contradiction between the robot single operation function and the diversification of power grid maintenance operations, additional with the robot weak autonomous operation and intelligent behavior ability, this paper proposes a new configuration of a reconfigurable power robot with terminal functions and its autonomous operation behavior (...) control method for the three typical tasks which are the high-voltage transmission line insulators, drainage plates, and dampers maintenance. Through the analysis and planning of the robot operation behavior, the robot finite state machine model in the three operation states has been established. Through the introduction of the state transfer function in the FSM, the automatic switching control between the robot key operation states can be realized, and the robot motion planning can be optimized. The movement and working flow of the robot improve the robot operation intelligence and operation efficiency. Based on this, the robot autonomous operation control system has been designed and the robot physical prototype has been developed for three maintenance tasks of insulators, drainage plates, and dampers. Finally, simulation experiments and field operation tests verify the effectiveness and engineering practicability of the proposed method. Compared with traditional manual control, the autonomous behavior control method can significantly improve the robot operational efficiency and operational intelligence. At the same time, the robot multitask function and autonomous behavior control under different tasks can be realized and the method has strong versatility for different task objects and different line environments. The research and its promotion have important theoretical significance and practical application value for the power system operation and maintenance integration management. (shrink)

This paper discusses how the association learning principle works for supporting acquisition of basic spelling and reading skills using digital game-based learning environment with the Finland-based GraphoLearn technology. This program has been designed and validated to work with early readers of different alphabetic writing systems using repetition and reinforcing connections between spoken and written units. Initially GL was developed and found effective in training children at risk of reading disorders in Finland. Today GL training has been shown to support learning (...) decoding skills among children independent of whether they face difficulties resulting from educational, social, or biological reasons. (shrink)

Additive eigenvalue problem appears in ergodic optimal control or the homogenization of Hamilton–Jacobi equations. It has wide applications in several fields including computer science and then attracts the attention. In this paper, we consider the Poisson equations with the prescribed contact angle boundary condition and finally derive the existence and the uniqueness of the solution to the additive problem of the Laplace operator with the prescribed contact angle boundary condition.

It is of practical significance to introduce the Internet of Things technology into the financial service industry and find the driving factors and mechanisms of financial innovation to accelerate the promotion of financial innovation. This article starts from the perspective of banks and other supply chain financial institutions, takes mainstream trading products in the commodity trading market as the research object, uses the LA-VAR model, and fully considers the market price fluctuations and liquidity factors of supply chain financial inventory products. (...) It analyzes the theoretical basis of the continuous innovation of rural financial products. On the basis of analyzing the basic characteristics and types of rural financial product innovation, we explore the connotation of sustainable innovation of rural financial products, clarify the evaluation criteria, and lay a theoretical foundation for continuous dynamic evaluation. Based on technical innovation evaluation theoretical models such as Schumpeter’s innovation model, technical specifications-technological track model, and NR relationship model market, we analyze the innovation elements of rural financial products from the external and internal aspects of innovation and discuss the relationship between the factors. The interaction mechanism of rural financial products has established a dynamic mechanism model for the continuous innovation of rural financial products. A fuzzy comprehensive evaluation was made on the continuous innovation power of financial service industry products in a certain area. Using a combination of remote surveys and on-site visits, a questionnaire survey was conducted on financial service industry institutions in a certain region’s financial system. Each survey object was required to conduct 120 × 1067 index comparisons and use the data after processing the arithmetic average Matlab carries out the objective processing of programming. The results show that the LA-VAR model with liquidity indicators can measure the liquidity risk well and more comprehensively evaluate the risk of the inventory pledge financing model. According to the index weights determined by AHP, the development of the financial service industry will be promoted in a targeted manner from the internal construction of financial institutions and the optimization of the external innovation environment. (shrink)

This paper presents an in-depth analysis and research on the spatial distribution pattern of the urban landscape in the Central Plains digital landscape form and proposes an optimization scheme. Based on the basic theories of systematics and complexity, this paper analyzes the self-similar characteristics of urban morphology, establishes the concept of schema, and constructs a multiscale and multilevel morphological map research framework by drawing on the “planar pattern” morphological analysis method of the school and the “matrix, patch, and corridor” spatial (...) expression model of landscape ecology. The framework of morphological map research at multiple scales has been established, and the theory and method of describing, understanding, judging, and analyzing morphological evolution have been formed. Cities have self-similarity at different scales, and urban evolution is a process of recursion from small-scale hierarchy to large-scale hierarchy, and hierarchy is a phenomenon presented by the natural evolution of cities. After any morphological process is completed, it can only be transformed into the other two ways, so the static morphological description can be transformed into dynamic morphological process analysis. (shrink)

The topics of memristive system and synchronization are two hot fields of research in nonlinear dynamics. In this paper, we introduce a memristor-based chaotic system with no equilibrium. It is found that the memristor-based system under investigation exhibits fruitful dynamic behaviors such as coexisting bifurcation, multistability, transient chaos, and transient quasiperiod. Thus, it is difficult to reproduce the accurate dynamics of the system, which is highly advantageous in encryption and communication. Then, a simple intermittent control scheme with adaptive mechanism is (...) developed to achieve complete synchronization for the introduced system. Because the output signal is transmitted intermittently to the receiver system, more channel capacity can be saved and the security performance can be improved naturally in practical communication. (shrink)

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