Few-shot segmentation (FSS) aims to segment unseen classes given only a few annotated samples. Encouraging progress has been made for FSS by leveraging semantic features learned from base classes with sufficient training samples to represent novel classes. The correlation-based methods lack the ability to consider interaction of the two subspace matching scores due to the inherent nature of the real-valued 2D convolutions. In this paper, we introduce a quaternion perspective on correlation learning and propose a novel Quaternion-valued Correlation Learning Network (QCLNet), with the aim to alleviate the computational burden of high-dimensional correlation tensor and explore internal latent interaction between query and support images by leveraging operations defined by the established quaternion algebra. Specifically, our QCLNet is formulated as a hyper-complex valued network and represents correlation tensors in the quaternion domain, which uses quaternion-valued convolution to explore the external relations of query subspace when considering the hidden relationship of the support sub-dimension in the quaternion space. Extensive experiments on the PASCAL-5 ⁱ and COCO-20 ⁱ datasets demonstrate that our method outperforms the existing state-of-the-art methods effectively.

Commercial buildings are great demand response resources in the energy and regulation markets. Many commercial building heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems are composed of a chiller producing chilled water, and multiple Air-Handling Units (AHUs) distributing cooled air to thermal zones. Demand response of such systems has the potential to closely track energy and regulation market signals. However, existing control methods are mostly focused on fan control, neglecting the impact of the air loop fan control on the power consumption of water loop pumps and chillers. This paper presents a complete modeling of a commercial building HVAC system consisting of chiller, water pump and multiple AHUs, and develops a two-level control to follow five-minute energy market signals and four-second frequency regulation signals. The first-level coarse control provides commands for both water and air loop variables, the second-level fine control adjusts the fan commands while maintaining the water loop inputs within the five-minute control period. As a result, the water-loop power serves as a basis to track energy market signals and the air-loop fan control can be adjusted flexibly for frequency regulation. A high-fidelity model in Dymola is built to validate the model and control. The validation is conducted through co-simulation between Matlab and Dymola model via the Building Controls Virtual Test Bed (BCVTB). The simulation results show significant tracking improvement with the proposed two-level control framework.

In recent years, the e-commerce market has grown significantly, and the online retail market has become very competitive. Online retailers strive to improve their supply chain operations to reduce costs and to improve customer satisfaction. Value stream mapping (VSM), a tool created by the lean production movement to identify and reduce errors, losses, and lead time and to improve value-added activities, has been proven to be effective in many manufacturing processes. In this study, we investigate the application of value stream mapping (VSM) in the supply chain of an e-commerce retailer on Amazon. By visualizing the entire supply chain with VSM, the waste that is produced during the delivery process from the retailer to the customer was identified. The five whys method was then applied to find the root cause of the waste. Furthermore, a scoring method was developed to evaluate and compare two different supply chain logistic models to identify a strategy for improvement. This study provides a systematic methodology to understand, evaluate, and improve the entire e-commerce supply chain process utilizing VSM. It was demonstrated that the methodology could improve supply chain management efficiency, customer satisfaction, and cost reduction.

Accurate predictive modeling of traffic flow is critically important as it allows transportation users to make wise decisions to circumvent traffic congestion regions. The advanced development of sensing technology makes big data more affordable and accessible, meaning that data-driven methods have been increasingly adopted for traffic flow prediction. Although numerous data-driven methods have been introduced for traffic flow predictions, existing data-driven methods cannot consider the correlation of the extracted high-dimensional features and cannot use the most relevant part of the traffic flow data to make predictions. To address these issues, this work proposes a decoder convolutional LSTM network, where the convolutional operation is used to consider the correlation of the high-dimensional features, and the LSTM network is used to consider the temporal correlation of traffic flow data. Moreover, the multi-head attention mechanism is introduced to use the most relevant portion of the traffic data to make predictions so that the prediction performance can be improved. A traffic flow dataset collected from the Caltrans Performance Measurement System (PeMS) database is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

This paper aims to forecast solar power in very short horizons to assist in real-time distribution system operations. Popular machine learning methods for time series forecasting are studied, including recurrent neural networks with Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM). Although LSTM networks perform well in different applications by accounting for long-term dependencies, they do not consider the frequency domain patterns, especially the low frequencies in the solar power data compared to the sampling frequency. The State Frequency Memory (SFM) model in this paper extends LSTM and adds multi-frequency components into memory states to reveal a variety of frequency patterns from the data streams. To further improve the forecasting performance, the idea of Fourier Transform is integrated for optimal selection of the frequency bands by identifying the most dominant frequencies in solar power output. The results show that although the SFM model with uniform frequency selection does not significantly improve upon the LSTM model, the proper selection of frequencies yields overall better performances than the LSTM and 27% better than the persistent forecasts for forecast horizons up to one minute. Furthermore, a predictive voltage control based on solar forecasts is implemented to demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed model.

Generative AI tools offer benefits to engineering education while introducing challenges, as perspectives on their use vary significantly. To understand perceptions of Generative AI tools among students and instructors, this study explores usage patterns of these tools and investigates perspectives and attitudes toward these tools among the two groups, with a specific focus on academic integrity. Data was collected through targeted questionnaires hosted by Qualtrics. Separate instruments were developed for students and instructors to capture their experiences and viewpoints on Generative AI tools. Descriptive statistics, including frequencies and percentages, were used to summarize perceptions and usage patterns. Findings of this study reveal a gap in the adoption and integration of Generative AI tools between students and instructors in engineering education. Students reported higher levels of familiarity and engagement with these tools, while instructors showed reluctance to incorporate them into teaching practices. This reflects a divide between students and instructors, both technologically and philosophically: students prioritize function and outcome from Generative AI tools, while instructors focus on process and oversight. Addressing this gap requires institutionally supported dialogue and co-developed guidelines that respect both student and instructor perspectives.