Search Results (1,975)

Aging and stress-related factors affect sperm DNA methylation in regions associated with genes responsible for embryonic development. The stochastic epigenetic variation hypothesis holds potential to explain these patterns, proposing that, in response to stressors, naturally variable methylation regions (VMRs) associated with morphogenetic genes exhibit increased methylation variation to diversify phenotypes and improve the chances of survival of the genetic lineage. Here, we test predictions from this hypothesis using mouse and rat sperm DNA methylation data from publicly available sources. Specifically, we identify VMRs and analyze their overlap with regions differentially methylated (DMRs) in response to aging, stressors, and with various genomic elements. We demonstrate that the nature of the DNA regions, rather than the nature of the stressor, determines the response of the sperm methylome to aging and stress, and propose a model that explains shifts in methylation within VMRs through stochastic changes, whereby initially hypermethylated regions lose methylation and initially hypomethylated regions gain methylation. VMRs are depleted of open chromatin regions and histones in male germ cells and are enriched for a binding motif for ZFP42, an epigenetic remodeler. This knowledge may open opportunities for the development of interventions to control epigenetic information transfer via germ cells. Full article

DC motors are widely used in mechatronic systems; however, their performance degrades significantly in the presence of nonlinear mechanical loads, parameter variations and sensing uncertainties. This paper proposes three control strategies (i.e., PID, optimal, and hybrid controllers) for discrete-time DC motor systems to overcome the disturbances caused by nonlinear mechanical loads and parameter variations. Optimal control of nonlinear discrete-time systems is formally characterized by the Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman (HJB) equation, whose analytical solution is generally intractable. To address this challenge, a learning-based optimal control strategy based on the Heuristic Dynamic Programming (HDP) framework is developed to approximate the HJB equation, supported by a formal convergence proof. For that purpose, Neural Networks (NNs) are employed to approximate both the cost function and the optimal control policy, enabling near-optimal performance with manageable computational complexity. Although the resulting optimal control achieves fast convergence, it may introduce overshoot and steady-state offset under nonlinear disturbances. To address this limitation, a hybrid control framework is proposed, where nonlinear optimal corrections are integrated with the robustness and adaptability of Proportional–Integral–Derivative (PID) control through error-dependent gating and gain-scheduling mechanisms. A structured evaluation framework is conducted, including nominal analysis, motor-parameter stress testing across nine nonlinear scenarios, controller-design sensitivity analysis, and stochastic measurement-noise assessment under filtered sensing conditions. Results demonstrate that the hybrid controller preserves transient speeds within 5–10% of the optimal controller while effectively eliminating overshoot and steady-state offset under nominal conditions. The hybrid design reduces the accumulated tracking error by more than 95% compared to the optimal controller, while incurring only negligible additional control effort. Under aggressive supply-sag disturbances, the hybrid controller significantly limits peak deviation and reduces accumulated tracking error by over 90%, while maintaining comparable control cost. Overall, the hybrid framework provides a convergence-proven and practically deployable control solution that combines near-optimal convergence speed with robust, overshoot-free performance for intelligent motion-control and robotics applications. Full article

In this article, we investigate the existence and approximate controllability of a class of Sobolev-type fractional stochastic differential equations of order $1<\delta <2$ with infinite delay. The analysis is carried out in an abstract Hilbert space framework, incorporating fractional dynamics together with stochastic perturbations. By employing techniques from fractional calculus, semigroup theory, and fixed point theory, particularly the Banach contraction principle along with compactness arguments, we establish the existence of mild solutions for the proposed system. Subsequently, sufficient conditions for approximate controllability are derived by combining operator-theoretic methods with stochastic analysis. The novelty of this work lies in extending controllability results to Sobolev-type fractional stochastic systems of order $1<\delta <2$, where both the higher-order fractional structure and stochastic effects are treated simultaneously within a unified framework. This generalizes and complements several existing results in the literature that mainly address deterministic systems or fractional differential equations of order $0<\delta \le 1$. Finally, an illustrative example is presented to demonstrate the applicability and effectiveness of the theoretical findings. Full article

We introduce the discrete asymmetric double Lindley distribution, a new two-parameter family on the integer line designed to model signed counts and net changes with flexible asymmetric tail behavior. This statistical model is obtained by merging two Lindley-type linear-geometric kernels on the negative and non-negative half-lines, with tail decay rates that are coupled through a simple two-parameter mechanism. This construction yields an analytically tractable probability mass function with an explicit normalizing constant, as well as closed-form expressions for the cumulative distribution function and one-sided tail probabilities. We further provide a transparent stochastic representation based solely on Bernoulli and geometric random variables, leading to an exact and efficient simulation algorithm that is convenient for Monte Carlo studies and validating numerical likelihood routines. Graphical illustrations highlight the role of the asymmetry parameter in controlling the imbalance between the two tails and the resulting skewness on $\mathbb{Z}$. The proposed family offers a practical and interpretable alternative to existing integer-line models for asymmetric discrete data, with direct applicability to likelihood-based inference and real-world datasets. Full article

We investigate a stochastic coupled nonlinear Schrödinger (Manakov-type) system for option price and volatility wave fields within the Ivancevic adaptive-wave option-pricing paradigm, and derive exact wave families together with statistical diagnostics of the resulting dynamics. This system combines behavioral market effects with classical efficient-market dynamics and incorporates a controlled stochastic volatility component. Randomness in both the option price and volatility is incorporated via white noise, and a system of stochastic partial differential equations (PDEs) is developed that governs the joint evolution of option prices and stock price volatility. We derive advanced solutions of the proposed system using a newly created methodology. The obtained solutions are expressions of cnoidal, snoidal, dnoidal, hyperbolic, trigonometric, and exponential functions. The stochastic dynamical investigation, together with the statistical measures are presented. The autocorrelation function (ACF) of squared returns for the obtained analytical solutions is demonstrated to show distinct differences in second-order temporal dependence, while asymmetries in the temporal evolution of the fluctuations are depicted via leverage correlation (LC). The probability distribution function (PDF) dynamics of the soliton solutions illustrate prominent temporal variability and non-stationary statistical dynamics. Differences in dynamical coupling between the two components of the considered system are presented via phase velocity cross-correlation analysis and are supported by phase difference dynamics visualizations. The strength and structure of coupling between components are displayed via the amplitude cross-correlation function. Mean amplitude dynamics and variance as a function of noise intensity $\sigma$, provide a systematic influence of stochastic forcing on their energy and a quantitative measure of stochastic dispersion of soliton solutions. All the results are displayed in 3D and 2D graphs of the stochastics and statistical dynamics of the obtained solutions. Full article

Lamport’s Bakery algorithm is a well-known, simple, and elegant solution to the mutual exclusion problem for N ≥ 2 concurrent/parallel processes. However, the algorithm generates an unbounded number of tickets, even when only 2 processes are arbitrated. Various proposals in the literature were introduced to bound the number of tickets. Anyway, almost all these proposals prove to be correct when operated with atomic registers (AR) only. They become incorrect when working with non-atomic registers (NAR), as may occur in embedded hardware platforms with multi-port memory and relaxed memory-bus control, such as microcontrollers, FPGA-based systems, or specialized network devices. A notable solution with bounded tickets is Taubenfeld’s Black-White Bakery (BWB) algorithm. BWB relies on tickets which are couples <number,mycolor> where mycolor can be Black or White and number ranges in [0, N]. BWB, too, was confirmed, through informal reasoning, it is correct with AR only. The original contribution of this paper is a reformulation of BWB, which is formally modelled and exhaustively verified by timed automata in the Uppaal toolbox. In the reformulation, a ticket’s couple is coded as a single integer, and decoded and processed according to the BWB logic. The reformulated BWB remains fully correct with AR regardless of the number N of processes, but it is also correct with NAR for N = 2 processes. As a further original contribution, the paper demonstrates that the BWB version for 2 processes can be embedded in a general, state-of-the-art solution, based on a binary tournament tree (TT), to become AR/NAR correct, that is, RW-safe, for any number of processes. However, due to model complexity, the correctness of the TT versions of BWB, that is, based on atomic and non-atomic registers, is mainly studied by stochastic simulation of the formal model reduced to actors in Java. Full article

Pricing multi-peril agricultural insurance under compound climate hazards demands a framework that captures stochastic dependence among heterogeneous perils, accommodates non-stationary loss dynamics, and supports adaptive policy optimisation. We demonstrate that backward stochastic differential equations, combined with copula dependence, recurrent neural networks, and reinforcement learning, provide a unifying language for this task; the contribution lies in their principled integration. The dynamic premium is the unique adapted solution of a BSDE whose driver encodes compound-risk dependence through a Student-t copula, forward loss dynamics through a jump-diffusion process, and a green-finance adjustment through an optimal control variable. Within this framework we derive three progressive results by adapting standard BSDE theory to the compound-dependence and policy-control setting. First, existence and uniqueness hold under Lipschitz and square-integrability conditions. Second, a comparison theorem guarantees that a larger correlation matrix yields higher premiums; the degrees-of-freedom effect enters separately through the risk-loading magnitude. Third, the Euler discretisation converges at a rate of one half of the time-step size, with copula estimation, LSTM conditional expectation approximation, and Q-learning HJB solution as sequential components. Applied to eleven Zhejiang cities (2014–2023, $N \times T=110$), in this illustrative application the framework reduces premium variance by 43.5 percent (bootstrap 95% CI: $[38.2\%,48.7\%]$) while maintaining actuarial adequacy with a mean loss ratio of 0.678, though the modest sample size warrants caution in generalising these findings. Each component contributes statistically significant improvements confirmed by the Friedman test at the 0.1 percent significance level. Full article

Uncertainty in travel and service times poses significant challenges for vehicle routing in logistics systems. This paper proposes a stochastic model predictive control (SMPC) strategy to manage a Vehicle Routing Problem with time windows (VRPTW) under stochastic service times with correlation across customers. The approach combines a dynamic optimization model with single and joint chance constraints and a forecasting tool for updating travel plans as new information becomes available. A deterministic reformulation of the stochastic constraints is developed so that the problem can be solved via mixed-integer programming. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that the SMPC strategy can maintain a high level of time-window reliability (meeting customer time windows with high probability) at a reasonable cost by re-optimizing routes over a moving horizon. In numerical case studies, the SMPC approach achieves the desired reliability levels while incurring only modest increases in total cost, and it flexibly adjusts the cost–risk tradeoff by switching between single and joint chance constraints. These results illustrate the potential of the proposed method for real-time distribution routing under uncertainty and highlight the novel contribution of integrating chance-constrained optimization with Model Predictive Control in a VRPTW context. Full article

This article presents an online additive fault-detection system for the speed sensor of a 200 W shunt-type direct current (DC) motor, integrated into a power module controlled by an Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT). The system is designed to trigger an alarm signal when an additive fault occurs by comparing the Kalman Filter (KF) residual against a predefined detection threshold. Three specific fault types in the speed sensor were analyzed: offset, disconnection, and sinusoidal noise. Experimental results demonstrate effective fault detection across a speed range of 80 to 690 rpm under no-load conditions. However, when a constant torque of 0.5 Nm is applied, both the detection threshold and the subset of reliably identifiable faults must be adjusted. The main contribution of this study is the development of a customized real-time fault detection framework and the characterization of residual variations caused by unmodeled load disturbances in actual hardware. This approach improves the monitoring and fault-diagnosis capabilities of sensor systems in DC motors by quantifying the stochastic behavior of residuals under different operating constraints. Full article

Open-ended, team-based problem solving demands (i) a bridge between stochastic language models and symbolic control, (ii) mechanisms for idea elaboration, (iii) feature-level concept combination, and (iv) internal representations that support understanding beyond mere association. We present a cognitive architecture (CA) that couples an LLM with an editable knowledge-graph (KG) scaffold and a controller that adaptively schedules five reasoning strategies. Elaborations are cast as graph updates validated against coverage and consistency checks; combinations produce property- and relation-level recompositions. On 30 collaborative programming dialogs (nine representative scenarios), adaptive prompting improves solution completeness by 19.1% and reduces required turns by 18.5% over a CoT baseline; explicit concept combinations increase Distinct-3 by 12.4 points with a +0.7 gain in human-rated creativity. Ablations show that Soft→Pruning scaffolds best support early elaboration, while Hard partitioning helps under ambiguity. The CA demonstrates a practical route to aligning LLMs with team intent in open-ended tasks. Full article

The paper suggests a model-dependent theoretical framework for designing optimal ranking algorithms to achieve desirable macroscopic opinion configurations. We consider an opinion formation process in which agents communicate through stochastic pairwise interactions, with the outcomes of these interactions being a function of the interacting agents’ opinions and individual attributes (types). For the model, we write a mean-field approximation (MFA)—a coarse-grained nonlinear ordinary differential equation—which accommodates network modularity and assortativity, agents’ activity heterogeneity, and the curation of a ranking system that can prohibit interactions with opinion- and type-dependent probabilities. Upon MFA, we formulate a control problem for dynamically adjusting the ranking algorithm’s parameters. The existence of a solution is proved, and certain properties of optimal controllers are derived. For the case of a two-element opinion alphabet, we obtain a solution to the control problem using finite-difference schemes. This solution holds for any number of agent types and does not depend on external factors, such as the influence of social bots. Numerical tests corroborate our findings and also enable us to investigate the control problem for high-dimension opinion spaces, wherein we consider two primary scenarios: depolarization of an initially polarized society and nudging a social system towards a fixed endpoint of an opinion spectrum. Full article

This paper addresses the stochastic optimal control of a closed-loop hybrid manufacturing–remanufacturing system (HMRS) operating under random machine failures and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission constraints in the context of sustainable industrial operations. The system consists of two dedicated machines for manufacturing and remanufacturing that jointly produce a single product in a dynamic production environment. The objective is to minimize the long-run expected total cost, including inventory holding and shortage costs, manufacturing and remanufacturing costs, and penalties associated with emissions exceeding a prescribed limit. The structure of the optimal production control policy is determined using a stochastic optimal control framework based on Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman equations, whose optimality conditions are solved numerically. A sensitivity analysis is then conducted to examine the behavior of the resulting control policy under variations in key system parameters. The results show how coordinated manufacturing and remanufacturing decisions can be regulated through emission- and inventory-dependent thresholds in failure-prone hybrid production systems. This work contributes to the literature on sustainable manufacturing by providing a rigorous modeling and control framework for environmentally regulated hybrid manufacturing–remanufacturing systems. Full article

This study addresses the challenge of designing an adaptive sliding mode controller for a class of nonlinear Markov jump systems. These systems are characterized by unmeasurable states, partially unknown transition probabilities, and uncertainties arising from matched external disturbances and modeling inaccuracies. In control design and analysis, the nonlinear Markov system in which both the linear term and specific information about the upper bound in the external disturbance term are unknown. To enable descending equivalent sliding mode motion to regulate the dithering phenomenon in a controlled system, an integral sliding surface is established to achieve chattering suppression via descending equivalent sliding motion. A key theoretical contribution is the rigorous proof that the proposed control law ensures both finite-time reachability of the sliding surface and mean-square stability of the closed-loop trajectories. Comparative simulation results demonstrate that the proposed approach achieves a state estimation RMSE of 0.175, which is 48.0% lower than conventional sliding mode control (0.337) and 3.3% lower than observer-based sliding mode control without fault compensation (0.181). The controller reduces control chattering by 75.2% compared to conventional SMC (total variation from 64.4 to 16.0), achieves sliding surface reachability within 0.42s, and maintains effective fault estimation with an average RMSE of 0.138 for time-varying actuator efficiency factors. These quantitative improvements validate the effectiveness of the proposed fault-tolerant mechanism. Full article

Anticipation allows individuals to prepare actions by predicting upcoming events, yet its influence on motor learning and its practical relevance for rehabilitation remain unclear. This study investigates how anticipation mechanisms shape motor learning and skill acquisition in a virtual leader–follower task and explores their potential for adaptive training. Forty-nine healthy adults performed a joystick-controlled tracking task in virtual reality, following a dynamic leader that was always visible (Control), became invisible at regular intervals (Deterministic Anticipation), or disappeared randomly (Stochastic Anticipation) to elicit anticipatory behavior. Kinematic and kinetic metrics and time-series analysis were used to evaluate synchrony, smoothness, and coordination. Performance improved from baseline to retention, with no distinct differences in final performance between the groups. However, slope-based analyses found that anticipation-based training accelerated learning, especially in the novice subgroup (baseline score < 35), with marked improvements in metrics such as score pause duration, temporal lag, and spatial error. Although participants reached similar final performance levels across protocols, the rate and pattern of learning differed across training protocols. Anticipation accelerates early-stage improvements, with the strongest effects observed in novice participants. The paradigm provides a high-resolution framework for adaptive motor training and assessment. Full article

The real-time economic dispatch of microgrids (MGs) is challenged by the high penetration of renewable energy and the resulting source–load uncertainties. Conventional optimization-based scheduling methods rely heavily on accurate probabilistic models and often suffer from high computational burdens, which limits their real-time applicability. To address these challenges, a data-driven deep reinforcement learning (DRL) framework is proposed for real-time microgrid energy management. The MG dispatch problem is formulated as a Markov decision process (MDP), and a Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG) algorithm is adopted to efficiently handle the high-dimensional continuous action space of distributed generators and energy storage systems (ESS). The system state incorporates renewable generation, load demand, electricity price, and ESS operational conditions, while the reward function is designed as the negative of the operational cost with penalty terms for constraint violations. A continuous-action policy network is developed to directly generate control commands without action discretization, enabling smooth and flexible scheduling. Simulation studies are conducted on an extended European low-voltage microgrid test system under both deterministic and stochastic operating scenarios. The proposed approach is compared with model-based methods (MPC and MINLP) and representative DRL algorithms (SAC and PPO). The results show that the proposed DDPG-based strategy achieves competitive economic performance, fast convergence, and good adaptability to different initial ESS conditions. In stochastic environments, the proposed method maintains operating costs close to the optimal MINLP reference while significantly reducing the online computational time. These findings demonstrate that the proposed framework provides an efficient and practical solution for the real-time economic dispatch of microgrids with high renewable penetration. Full article