Acquiring Customers' Requirementsin Electronic Commerce

A key role for Artificial Intelligencetechnology in electronic commerce is in findingproducts and services that meet a user'srequirements. This may be implemented as athree-stage process of requirementselicitation, product search, and finallyproduct presentation. Alternatively the searchof the product space may happen in tandem withthe requirements elicitation process. It isalso possible to use product presentation as amechanism to focus and give context torequirements elicitation. A variety ofdifferent approaches to this issue of matchingproducts to requirements have been explored inAI research. Thus, while the focus in thispaper is on different approaches torequirements elicitation, these related issuesof product search and product presentation arealso discussed in detail. The paper concludesby placing the other papers in this specialissue in the context of this structuredoverview.     

Relaxation of extrinsic and intrinsic stresses in germanium substrates with silicon films

Si films were deposited on Ge substrates at 400°C by two different Physical Vapor Deposition techniques: (A) ion beam sputtering and (B) magnetron sputtering. The intrinsic stresses in the as-deposited films were measured to be compressive and much greater in samples (A), about −1500 to −2000 MPa than in samples (B), about −300 to −500 MPa. The substrates were subsequently exposed to thermal treatments for varying times at 800°C. In the lower stressed (B) samples, the films had relaxed and reduced the overall curvature of the structure whereas in the high stresses (A) samples, an irreversible large increase in the substrate curvature was found to occur. This indicated that plastic deformation in the Ge substrates itself had occurred.     

Fluid dynamics and flow patterns in stirred tanks with a turbine impeller

Velocity profiles were measured in a stirred tank with a turbine impeller using a three-dimensional, pitot tube probe. A tangential jet model was used to describe the flow in the region of the impeller, and two-dimensional potential flow models and a circular jet were used to describe the flow in the rest of the tank. The tangential jet model accurately predicted the measurements from this work and comparable measurements reported in the literature for water and air, for varying impeller diameter and speeds and for different tank diameters. In the rest of the tank a three-dimensional, low velocity, flow field exists; and the center of circulation is not a true stagnation point. The flow at this point is tangential. The two-dimensional models only qualitatively described the flow in this region, and a three-dimensional model would be required. It was experimentally and theoretically confirmed that standard practice of using 10% baffles effectively controls the flow in the tank.     

Dependence of electrical properties of polycrystalline cvd si films on grain size and impurity doping concentrationa,b

The electrical properties of sets of simultaneously grown p-type polycrystalline Si films, deposited by SiH₄ pyrolysis on polycrystalline high-purity alumina substrates and B-doped during growth, were determined by Hall-effect measurements in the temperature range 77-420K as functions both of impurity doping concentration N (~10^l5 to ~10²⁰cm⁻³) and average grain size (≈1 to ≈125μm) in the film. Room temperature data showed rapidly increasing resistivities and rapidly decreasing free-carrier concentrations for doping below a critical concentration N_m and distinct mobility minima at that concentration, with the value of N_m being larger the smaller the average grain size. Measurements as a function of sample temperature showed the intergrain barrier height E_b, decreasing from a maximum value of ~0.4eV at the critical concentration to very small values (~0.01eV) for concentrations above 10¹⁹cm⁻³, with a functional dependence close to E_b ∝l/N^1/2 and E_b for any given concentration being larger the smaller the average grain size. Results are interpreted in terms of the grain-boundary trapping model. Trapped carrier densities in the grain boundaries were calculated to range from ~5×l0¹¹cm⁻² at N≈N_m to ~5×l0¹²cm⁻² for N>10¹⁹cm⁻³, the density being higher the smaller the grain size, and evidence was found for an energy distribution of traps in the Si bandgap, rather than a fixed density at a single discrete energy level. The observed relationship between N_m and average grain size nearly coincides with that of the model for films with ~lμm grain size but sharply departs from it for larger grain sizes, indicating probable applicability of the model for grain sizes up to that range. ^aThis work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energythrough its San Francisco Operations Office under Contract DE-AC03-79ET23045 and monitored by the Solar Energy Research Institute, Golden, CO. bThese results were first described at the 22nd Electronic Materials Conference, Ithaca, NY, June 21–27, 1980, Paper No. M4.     

Simple techniques for incorporating institutional-preference information in programming transportation investments

Urban transportation decisions usually involve a multiplicity of public and private institutions and actors. This paper addresses the problem of incorporating institutional preference information in a systematic manner within the methodology for evaluating transportation alternatives. An approach developed in conjunction with a procedure for programming major urban transportation network improvements in Cairo, Egypt is described. It relies on a measure of relative political desirability of alternative project combinations. Different possible types of preference information are compared as to information content and ease of implementation. Alternative analytical models of individual and group preferences towards project combinations under different preferential assumptions are specified and discussed. Finally, specifications are provided for their operational use in the application context for which they were intended.     

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory correlates of dysphasic language disturbances.

Compared the MMPI performances of 15 male dysphasic brain-damaged adults with the performances of 15 matched control brain-damaged Ss without specific language impairment. A significant overall difference on the 9 clinical scales combined was shown by multivariate analysis, with higher scores obtained by dysphasic Ss. Further univariate analysis showed significantly higher scores on the Pd and Sc scales. Results are discussed in terms of (a) evidence for a closer relation between MMPI variables and behavioral measures than between MMPI variables and neurological measures of lesion laterality, and (b) the interpretive limitations implied by uncritical transference of MMPI findings based on psychiatric patients and normals to patients with central nervous system lesions. The need for validation studies investigating social behavior correlates of MMPI results in brain-damaged samples is emphasized. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The removal of Escherichia coli-bacteriophage T7 by magnetic filtration

Magnetic filtration effectively removed bacteriophage T₇ from water. The removal was undertaken by adsorbing the virus onto magnetite in the presence of calcium chloride and by passing the mixture through a filter placed in a magnetic field.