Artificial intelligence in fifth generation computers

Artificial intelligence forms an intrinsic aspect of the competence of fifth generation computers in view of the need for them to be primarily knowledge processing systems. We analyse in this paper how this need for knowledge processing arises. In the main body of the paper various issues that arise in knowledge representation and use are discussed. The point of departure for these discussions is the recent work on expert systems. We point out the difference between tacit and propositionizable knowledge and argue the need for modelling tacit knowledge also in fifth generation computers.     

Studies on the relationship between antioxidative activity of rice hull and germination ability of rice seeds

An investigation of the germination potentials of seeds of Indica and Japonica rice varieties revealed that while the long-life rice seeds retained the germination ability even on storage for a year at 30°C, the germination ability of the short-life rice seeds tended to decrease when stored beyond 6 months. The role of rice hull constituents in the preservation of the germination property during ageing of rice seeds was investigated with special emphasis on rice antioxidants. Antioxidative assay with chloroform-methanol and methanol-water extracts of hull, bran-germ and grain fractions of two Indica and five Japonica rice varieties indicated that all of the seed varieties belonging to Indica and Japonica possessed a strong antioxidative activity in the hull fraction. Hull extracts of long-life rice seeds showed relatively higher activities than those of short-life rice seeds. In contrast, hull extracts of long-life rice seeds had higher inhibitory effects on lipoxygenase activity than did those of short-life varieties. Quantification of the natural antioxidants indicated that ^α-tocopherol in rice oil to be present in the range of 318.3–450.1 μg g^?1 oil while the amount of oryzanol in the hull, bran-germ and grain fractions of rice was found to be 1.0–5.8, 95.4–279.8 and 3.0–9.4 μg g^?1 sample respectively. The results, however, did not show any positive correlation between the amount of natural antioxidants in rice hull and germination potentials of rice seeds. The amount of total phenolic constituents in rice hull was found to range from 190–390 μg g^?1 sample, the levels being far higher in long-life rice seeds in comparison with the short-life rice seeds. These values seemed to agree well with the germination data of the corresponding rice variety. The investigation revealed a strong influence of the level of phenolic constituents in rice hull on the storability of rice seeds.     

Evaluation of Fourier transform integrals using FFT with improved accuracy and its applications

A new technique that significantly minimizes the aliasing error encountered in the conventional use of the fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithms for the efficient evaluation of Fourier transforms of spatially limited functions (such as those that occur in the radiation pattern analysis of reflector antennas and planar near field to far field (NF-FF) transformation) is presented and illustrated through a typical example. Employing this technique and a discrete Fourier series (DFS) expansion for the integrand, a method for computing the radiation integrals of reflector antennas and planar NF-FF transformation integrals at arbitrary observation angles with optimum use of computer memory and time is also described.     

From data to diagnosis and control using generalized orthonormal basis filters. Part II: Model predictive and fault tolerant control

Given a state space model together with the state noise and measurement noise characteristics, there are well established procedures to design a Kalman filter based model predictive control (MPC) and fault diagnosis scheme. In practice, however, such disturbance models relating the true root cause of the unmeasured disturbances with the states/outputs are difficult to develop. To alleviate this difficulty, we reformulate the MPC scheme proposed by K.R. Muske and J.B. Rawlings [Model predictive control with linear models, AIChE J. 39 (1993) 262–287] and the fault tolerant control scheme (FTCS) proposed by J. Prakash, S.C. Patwardhan, and S. Narasimhan [A supervisory approach to fault tolerant control of linear multivariable systems, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 41 (2002) 2270–2281] starting from the innovations form of state space model identified using generalized orthonormal basis function (GOBF) parameterization. The efficacy of the proposed MPC scheme and the on-line FTCS is demonstrated by conducting simulation studies on the benchmark shell control problem (SCP) and experimental studies on a laboratory scale continuous stirred tank heater (CSTH) system. The analysis of the simulation and experimental results reveals that the MPC scheme formulated using the identified observers produces superior regulatory performance when compared to the regulatory performance of conventional MPC controller even in the presence of significant plant model mismatch. The FTCS reformulated using the innovations form of state space model is able to isolate sensor as well as actuator faults occurring sequentially in time. In particular, the proposed FTCS is able to eliminate offset between the true value of the measured variable and the setpoint in the presence of sensor biases. Thus, the simulation and experimental study clearly demonstrate the advantages of formulating MPC and generalized likelihood ratio (GLR) based fault diagnosis schemes using the innovations form of state space model identified from input output data.     

Protein‐Mediated Synthesis of Uniform Superparamagnetic Magnetite Nanocrystals

Magnetite nanocrystals are synthesized in the presence of a recombinant Mms6 protein thought to be involved in the biomineralization of bacterial magnetite magnetosomes, the mammalian iron‐storage protein, ferritin, and two proteins not known to bind iron, lipocalin (Lcn2) and bovine serum albumin (BSA). To mimic the conditions at which magnetite nanocrystals are formed in magnetotactic bacteria, magnetite synthesis is performed in a polymeric gel to slow down the diffusion rates of the reagents. Recombinant Mms6 facilitates formation of ca. 30 nm single‐domain, uniform magnetite nanocrystals in solution, as verified by using transmission electron microscopy analysis and magnetization measurements. The nanocrystals formed in the presence of ferritin, Lcn2, and BSA, do not exhibit the uniform sizes and shapes observed for those produced in the presence of Mms6. Mms6‐derived magnetite nanoparticles show the largest magnetization values above the blocking temperature, as well as the largest magnetic susceptibility compared to those of the nanomaterials synthesized with other proteins. The latter is indicative of a substantial effective magnetic moment per particle, which is consistent with the presence of magnetite with a well‐defined crystalline structure. The combination of electron microscopy analysis and magnetic measurements confirms our hypothesis that Mms6 promotes the shape‐selective formation of uniform superparamagnetic nanocrystals. This provides a unique bioinspired route for synthesis of uniform magnetite nanocrystals.     

Tissue-specific activation of the osmotin gene by ABA, C2H4 and NaCl involves the same promoter region

The gene encoding the antifungal protein osmotin is induced by several hormonal and environmental signals. In this study, tissue-specific and inducer-mediated expression of the reporter gene beta-glucuronidase (uidA) fused to different fragment lengths of the osmotin promoter was evaluated in transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum). The region of the promoter between -248 to -108 (Fragment A) was found to be essential and sufficient for inducer (abscisic acid (ABA), C2H4 and NaCl)-mediated expression of the reporter gene. Expression of the reporter gene was developmentally regulated and increased with maturity of leaves, stem and flowers. Expression also was tissue-specific being most highly expressed in epidermis and vascular parenchyma of the stem. The regulators ABA, C2H4 and NaCl exhibited tissue-specific induction of this promoter. The promoter was specifically responsive to C2H4 in flowers at virtually all stages of development, but not responsive in these tissues to ABA or NaCl. Conversely, ABA and NaCl were able to induce reporter gene activity using promoter Fragment A in specific tissues of root where C2H4 was unable to induce activity. Further dissection of the promoter Fragment A into fragments containing either the conserved GCC element (PR); PR/AT; or G/AT sequences, and subsequent testing of these fragments fused to GUS in transgenic plants was performed. These experiments revealed that the promoter fragment containing PR element alone, although required, was barely able to allow responsiveness to C2H4. However, significant C2H4-induced activity was obtained with a promoter fragment containing the AT and PR elements together.     

Feedback active noise control based on transform-domain forward–backward LMS predictor

In this paper, a new feedback active noise control (FBANC) system based on the transform-domain forward–backward LMS (TFBLMS) predictor has been proposed. The new ANC system employs the TFBLMS predictor for its main-path (MP) predictor as well as for the noise canceller. To overcome the ill effect of the primary noise field, which acts as an observation noise for the secondary-path (SP) identification, the noise canceller is used. As the main-path predictor is based on the TFBLMS, its convergence rate improves due to its input orthogonalization. Further, its FBLMS nature reduces misadjustment. The use of TFBLMS predictor for noise canceller also gives a good prediction of primary noise at a faster rate, enabling improved SP identification. This improved SP identification indirectly aids the MP predictor to achieve an improved performance. A new filtered-x LMS structure has been proposed to realize the new MP predictor to accommodate the TFBLMS algorithm. The TFBLMS algorithm is applied directly to the noise canceller for SP identification. The proposed new ANC system has been found to have a significantly better noise reduction (by 14.6 dB) over the FBANC system based on tapped delay line time-domain FBLMS algorithm.     

Structural, Optical, and Electrical Properties of Nb-Doped ZnO Thin Films Prepared by Spray Pyrolysis Method

Niobium (Nb) doping (0 at.% to 3 at.%) in ZnO thin films prepared by the chemical spray pyrolysis method at a substrate temperature of 400°C enhances the optical and electrical properties but deteriorates the structural quality of the films. The films are polycrystalline with hexagonal structure having a preferential orientation along the (002) crystallographic direction. The film doped with 3 at.% Nb demonstrates a maximum average transmittance of ~83% in the visible region. A strong blue emission is recorded for both pure and doped films, and the intensity is substantially enhanced with Nb doping due to interface and valence-band transitions. Vacuum annealing at 400°C for 60 min improves the electrical characteristics of the films, and the highest mobility of 71 cm²/V s is achieved for the 1 at.% Nb-doped ZnO films.     

Improved Algorithms for Constructing Fault-Tolerant Spanners

Abstract. Let S be a set of n points in a metric space, and let k be a positive integer. Algorithms are given that construct k -fault-tolerant spanners for S . If in such a spanner at most k vertices and/ or edges are removed, then each pair of points in the remaining graph is still connected by a ``short' path. First, an algorithm is given that transforms an arbitrary spanner into a k -fault-tolerant spanner. For the Euclidean metric in R ^d , this leads to an O(n log n + c ^k n) -time algorithm that constructs a k -fault-tolerant spanner of degree O(c ^k ) , whose total edge length is O(c ^k ) times the weight of a minimum spanning tree of S , for some constant c . For constant values of k , this result is optimal. In the second part of the paper, algorithms are presented for the Euclidean metric in R ^d . These algorithms construct (i) in O(n log n + k ² n) time, a k -fault-tolerant spanner with O(k ² n) edges, and (ii) in O(k n log n) time, such a spanner with O(k n log n) edges.     

Dynamic propagation of a finite crack in a micropolar elastic solid

Summary The dynamic propagation of a finite crack under mode-I loading in a micropolar elastic solid is investigated. By using an integral transform method, a pair of two-dimensional singular integral equations governing stress and couple stress is formulated in terms of displacement transverse to the crack, macro and micro rotations, and microinertia. These equations are solved numerically, and solutions for dynamic stress intensity and couple stress intensity factors are obtained by utilizing the values of the strengths of the square root singularities in macrorotation and the gradient of microrotation at the crack tips.