Temporal Bayesian Knowledge Bases – Reasoning about uncertainty with temporal constraints

Time is ubiquitous. Accounting for time and its interaction with change is crucial to modeling the dynamic world, especially in domains whose study of data is sensitive to time such as in medical diagnosis, financial investment, and natural language processing, to name a few. We present a framework that incorporates both uncertainty and time in its reasoning scheme. It is based on an existing knowledge representation called Bayesian Knowledge Bases. It provides a graphical representation of knowledge, time and uncertainty, and enables probabilistic and temporal inferencing. The reasoning scheme is probabilistically sound and the fusion of temporal fragments is well defined. We will discuss some properties of this framework and introduce algorithms to ensure groundedness during the construction of the model. The framework has been applied to both artificial and real world scenarios.     

Compact circular-patch-based bandpass filter for ultra-wideband wireless communication systems

Ultra-wideband (UWB) is a radio technology that enables low-power-level, short-range, and wide-bandwidth communication, and it has been widely applied in personal area networks, precision geolocation, medical, surveillance, and vehicular radar systems. Since Federal Communications Commission released the unlicensed use of the UWB range (3.1–10.6 GHz), a significant attention has been paid to the development of UWB devices, particularly UWB bandpass filters. In this paper, we propose a novel UWB bandpass filter based on circular patch resonator that is grounded by via and perturbed by slits and defected ground structures. The resonator’s behaviour is analysed in detail and it is shown that its specific configuration allows a flexible control of the three lowest resonant modes, which are used to form UWB passband. To demonstrate the potential of the resonator, a UWB filter has been designed, fabricated, and measured. The filter is characterized by the insertion loss lower than 1 dB and return loss higher than 17 dB within the passband, as well as by very small group delay variation of only 0.07 ns. Also, the filter exhibits suppression higher than 19 dB up to 30 GHz, and very small overall dimensions of only 0.31λ_g × 0.31λ_g, and thus it outperforms other published UWB filters.     

Annular denuder method for sampling reactive gases and aerosols in the atmosphere

The annular denuder method (ADM), consisting of a denuder-filter pack assembly, has been developed to measure several gaseous and aerosol species without sampling artifacts. Its application to the determination of gaseous acids and ammonia in the atmosphere indicates that this aim is achieved, even though the ratio of analytes in the gas phase and particulate matter is extremely low. The procedure is particularly suitable for the measurement of trace levels (0.1 μg m⁻³) of HNO₃ and SO₂ (even in the presence of high levels of sulfate and nitrate) as well as of HNO₂ (by making correction for the positive interference of NO₂ and PAN).The ADM sampling and analysis precision for the examined gases does not exceed ±10% in the 0.1–10 μg m⁻³ range. By sampling at an air flow rate of 151 min⁻¹, the minimum detectable atmospheric concentrations is ∼0.1 μgm⁻³ for each species over a 3 h interval.     

Stable auto-tuning of hybrid adaptive fuzzy/neural controllers for nonlinear systems

In direct adaptive control, the adaptation mechanism attempts to adjust a parameterized nonlinear controller to approximate an ideal controller. In the indirect case, however, we approximate parts of the plant dynamics that are used by a feedback controller to cancel the system nonlinearities. In both cases, “approximators” such as linear mappings, polynomials, fuzzy systems, or neural networks can be used as either the parameterized nonlinear controller or identifier model. In this paper, we present an algorithm to tune the adaptation gain for a gradient-based hybrid update law used for a class of nonlinear continuous-time systems in both direct and indirect cases. In our proposed algorithm, the adaptation gain is obtained by minimizing the instantaneous control energy. Finally, we will demonstrate the performance of the algorithm via a wing rock regulation example.     

A high performance grid-web service framework for the identification of ‘conserved sequence tags’

The continuous increasing of computing power in biological research places a threshold to the single host use and suggests an approach based on distributed computing. An emerging solution is grid technology, which allows organization to make better use of existing computing resources by providing them with a single, transparent, aggregated source of computing power. Equally, bioinformatics analysis often involves many web services, allowing shared access to information and helping the biologist to design, describe, record complex experiments. A new generation of grid infrastructure, where web services are building blocks, allow managent of a web services workflow.This work shows a tool for the identification and functional annotation of ‘Conserved Sequence Tags’ (CSTs) through cross-species genome comparisons, deployed on a Grid System Architecture, based on Web Services concepts and technologies.     

A survey of biogenic amines in chinese red wines

Eight biogenic amines were analyzed in 38 samples of red wine from five wine-making regions of China. The analysis was carried out by reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detector and dansyl chloride precolumn derivation. Tryptamine was not found in any of the samples. Putrescine was detected in all samples (100%), followed by phenylethylamine (84.2%), spermidine (60.5%), histamine (57.8%), tyramine (57.8%), cadaverine (47.4%), and spermine (36.8%). In all the samples, the levels of aromatic and heterocyclic amines with toxicological effects were: 0–4.58 mg/l for phenylethylamine, 0–10.51 mg/l for histamine, and 0–9.13 mg/l for tyramine. The amount of histamine and tyramine in most of the samples (94.7%) was less than 8 mg/l. The amines associated with sanitary conditions were also found to be present in a very low range, between 0 and 12.98 mg/l for putrescine, 0 and 19.01 mg/l for cadaverine, respectively. In the case of other amines such as spermine and spermidine, they yielded very low levels varying between 0 and 2.64 mg/l for spermine, 0 and 3.82 mg/l for spermidine, respectively.     

Comparing the efficiency of chitosan with chlorine for reducing Vibrio parahaemolyticus in shrimp

Thailand is one of the leading exporters of frozen shrimp to many countries. Chlorine is the decontaminating agent most frequently used in the frozen shrimp industries to kill potential pathogens. However, long time contact to chlorine causes severe respiratory tract damage. In this study, chitosan was compared to chlorine for reducing Vibrio parahaemolyticus. In vitro investigation, chitosan could reduce more than 90% of V. parahaemolyticus, whereas chlorine completely eliminated this organism. In artificially inoculated shrimp, more than 90% reduction of V. parahaemolyticus was achieved by chitosan. A similar reduction was obtained by chlorine, however, at lower concentrations and less contact time. In naturally contaminated shrimp, neither agent completely eradicated V. parahaemolyticus, however, chitosan achieved a decrease of more than 60%. These results demonstrate the possibility of using chitosan to decontaminate pathogenic bacteria in the seafood factory, a change that would diminish health problems of the workers.     

Famine exposure during early life and risk of hypertension in adulthood: A meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

Background: Many epidemiologic studies have explored the association between famine exposure and the risk of hypertension, but the results remain controversial. Objective: A meta-analysis was performed to determine the association between early life famine exposure, fetal famine exposure, and childhood famine exposure and risk of hypertension. Methods: A literature search was performed in PubMed, Web of science, Embase, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure for relevant articles published up to October 2016. Pooled relative risks (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using a random-effects model. Results: Sixteen studies from 14 articles for early life famine exposure, 11 studies from 10 articles for fetal famine exposure, and 10 studies from 8 articles for childhood famine exposure were included in our meta-analysis. Compared with unexposed group, the pooled RRs were (1.26; 95% CI, 1.11–1.44), (1.27; 95% CI, 1.08–1.49), and (1.32; 95% CI, 1.15–1.52) for early life famine exposure, fetal famine exposure, and childhood famine exposure, respectively. In subgroup analyses, the above-mentioned associations were consistent in cohort studies, and studies conducted in Asia. Conclusion: This meta-analysis confirmed the association between exposure to famine in early life and increased risk of hypertension in adulthood. Prevention of malnutrition during early life is an appropriate recommendation to prevent hypertension.     

The industrial robot in a flexible manufacturing system: State of the art and prospects

The actual situation of the industrial robots is described here. A comparison of the density in different countries gives an idea of the importance of these machines. The situation in Germany and especially in assembly automation is described more in detail. The results of a study of assembly automation are described as well as the necessity for assembly-oriented product design.