Intelligent agent construction using the attentive characteristic patterns of chaotic neural networks

Humans learn from incidents in their own life and reflects these in subsequent actions as their own experiences. These experiences are memorized in the brain and recollected when necessary. This research incorporates this type of intelligent information processing mechanism and applies it to an autonomous agent. In the proposed system, the reinforcement Q-learning method is used. Autoassociative chaotic neural networks are also used as mutual associative memory systems. However, an agent cannot retrieve all stored patterns exactly, especially in the case of too many stored patterns and a strong correlation among them. To solve this problem, we propose to use types of attentive parameters and attentive characteristic patterns. The attentive characteristic pattern is part of the stored patterns. When robots concentrate their attention on a specific part of a stored pattern, i.e., the attentive characteristic pattern, whole stored patterns are retrieved easily and completely. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified through a simulation applied to plural maze-searching problems.     

Enzymatic hydrolysis of water-soluble random copolypeptides

Two component water-soluble random copolypeptides consisting of N-hydroxyethyl L-glutamine and hydrophobic L-amino acids such as L-alanine, L-leucine, L-phenylalanine, or L-valine, were prepared by carrying out aminolysis reactions with 2-amino-1-ethanol (E) on starting copolymers consisting of γ-benzyl L-glutamate (B) and the corresponding hydrophobic L-amino acid. The effects of copolymer composition and sequential distributions, as well as molecular conformations, on the rate of degradation by bromelain in a PECF at pH 7.4 and 37.0°C to simulate in vivo polymer degradation. All the samples were found to be extensively degraded by random chain fracture with bromelain. Further, the degradation data for these samples followed the Michaelis-Menten rate law, being of the first order in papain concentration. The nature of side chains and the molecular conformations are important to the rate of degradation by bromelain.     

Evaluation of robust control by universal learning networks

The characteristics of control system design using a universal learning network (ULN) are such that both the controlled systems and their controller are represented in a unified framework, and that the learning stage of the ULN can be executed by using not only first-order derivatives (gradient) but also the higher order derivatives of the criterion function with respect to parameters. ULNs have the same generalization ability as neural networks. So the ULN controller is able to control the system in a favorable way under an environment which is little different from the environment of the control system at the learning stage. However, stability cannot be sufficiently realized. In this paper, we propose a robust control method using a ULN and second-order derivatives of that ULN. Robust control, as considered here, is defined as follows. Even though the initial values of the node outputs are very different from those at the learning stage, the control system is able to reduce its influence to other node outputs and can control the system as in the case of no variation. In order to realize such robust control, a new term concerning the variation is added to the usual criterion function, and the parameters are adjusted so as to minimize the above-mentioned criterion function using second-order derivatives of the criterion function with respect to the parameters. Finally, it is shown that the ULN controller constructed by the proposed method works effectively in a simulation study of a non-linear crane system. This work was presented, in part, at the International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, February 18–20, 1996     

Magnesia porous particle separators for lithium-aluminum/iron sulfide batteries

Magnesium oxide porous particles (～200 μm) made by sintering a fine powder of MgO with Mg(NO₃)₂ as the binder, have been evaluated as the s     

Synthesis of TiB2 powder from a mixture of TiN and amorphous boron

TiB₂ powder was synthesized by solid state reaction using amorphous boron and TiN as a source of titanium. The TiB₂ formation did not occur at all in a nitrogen atmosphere even at 1400° C. TiB₂ formed above 1100° C in argon and hydrogen atmospheres. The only crystalline phase of TiB₂ powder was favourably synthesized at 1400° C for 360 min in an argon atmosphere from a starting powder with a composition containing excess boron (B/Ti = 2.2). The synthesized powder was well dispersed and had a particle size of 0.5 to 2 µm. The powder activity was evaluated by sintering at 4 G Pa and 1300 to 1600° C for 15 min.     

Development of competitive behavior as a function of culture, age, and social comparison.

Observed the choice behavior of 868 dyads of 2nd-, 4th-, and 6th-grade children from 5 different cultural backgrounds (Mexican-American, Anglo-American, Japanese, Greek, and Belgian) in the maximizing difference game, an outcome interdependence task where individualistic and cooperative motives were placed in opposition to competitive ones. In 4 cultures, boys received either social comparison feedback or only information concerning their own cumulative scores. As predicted, the level of competitive responding increased as a function of age, social comparison information, and number of trials. Further, there were systematic cultural differences. A newly developed covariation analysis revealed that individual dyad variation accounted for more covariation than the main effects noted above. Hence, several types of within-dyad analyses were performed. Finally, cultures were classified in terms of the characteristic play by dyad members and the results compared with a classification developed by M. Mead (1937), in which she ordered the cooperative, competitive, and individualistic orientations of members of 13 "primitive" societies. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Shorter-wavelength lithography utilizing MRS-type negative resists

New negative photoresists, called MRS-type resists, are successfully applied to deep-UV 1:1 projection printing and 365 nm 10:1 reduction projection printing. The MRS-type resists are characterized by intense absorption of exposure light and absence of swelling in aqueous developer solutions. They resolve steep profile submicron images in a 1.0 μ thick film. They are not adversely affected by reflected light from water surfaces. In order to use MRS-type resists with broader development latitude, optimizing the extent of light absorption is important because the resist profiles strongly depend on development conditions due to increasing solubility towards the resist bottom.     

Cardiovascular effects of ajmaline

Ajmaline, a rauwolfia derivative, has been found to possess potent antiarrhythmic effects. The present study has been designed to define the cardiovascular effects of this drug. Hemodynamic studies performed in anesthetized and conscious dogs demonstrated no significant changes in measured hemodynamic parameters at doses equal to or less than 2 mg. per kilogram. Studies in isolated papillary muscle demonstrated no negative inotropic effects until concentrations of 1 X 10(-4). Disparate results were obtained with regard to heart rate reflecting the state of autonomic tone. Electrophysiologic studies in both anesthetized and conscious dogs demonstrated a significant depression of intraventricular conduction with no significant effect on AV nodal conduction; ventricular automaticity was not affected. Ajmaline did not alter digitalis-induced AV nodal conduction prolongation. However, ajmaline dramatically altered or abolished ventricular arrhythmias secondary to acute ischemia. In conclusion, these studies demonstrate that ajmaline specifically depresses intraventricular conduction, suggesting that this drug would be particularly effective in the treatment of re-entrant ventricular arrhythmias.     

Composition dependence of lithium ionic conductivity in lithium nitride-lithium iodide system

Two minima in the lithium ionic conductivity vs. composition curve in the lithium nitride-lithium iodide system are observed at Li₅NI₂ and Li₇N₂I. It is shown that ionic conductivity minimum at the stoichiometric Li₅NI₂ is caused by the increase in the lithium ion concentration.     

Colour and Constitution of 1,4-Naphthoquinonoid Dyes - Modified PPP MO Calculations and Substituent Effects

Calculation of the n-electron excitation energies of naphthoquinonoid dyes has been carried out by means of the Pariser—Parr—Pople (PPP) method using the variable, β,γ-approximation. A good linear correlation between the observed and calculated values for the first π-π* excitation was found for a new series of naphthoquinonoid dyes. The effect of substituents on the colour of different dyes was studied on the basis of these calculated results, i.e. HOMO—LUMO energy levels and π-electron-density changes accompanying the excitation. The intramolecular charge-transfer character of the π-π* transition was shown to be the same as occurs in some anthraquinonoid dyes.