The evolution of government housing policy: The case of new south Wales 1901–41

This paper sets out the development of four main threads of housing policy in New South Wales from the latter part of the 19th century through the first 40 years of the 20th century. Following a discussion of the social and political circumstances and debate surrounding government policy regarding landlord/tenant relations, housing quality and supply, and owner occupancy, it concludes that policy evolution is irregular and a product of the exigencies of the political process. It also suggests that although government policy did little to improve the housing situation for the underprivileged, there was nevertheless a growing acceptance by both Labor and conservative parties of the increased need for government intervention in the housing market.     

Classification and prediction of the critical heat flux using fuzzy theory and artificial neural networks

A new method to predict the critical heat flux (CHF) is proposed, based on the fuzzy clustering and artificial neural network. The fuzzy clustering classifies the experimental CHF data into a few data clusters (data groups) according to the data characteristics. After classification of the experimental data, the characteristics of the resulting clusters are discussed with emphasis on the distribution of the experimental conditions and physical mechanism. The CHF data in each group are trained in an artificial neural network to predict the CHF. The artificial neural network adjusts the weight so as to minimize the prediction error within the corresponding cluster. Application of the proposed method to the KAIST CHF data bank shows good prediction capability of the CHF, better than other existing methods.     

On-line dead-time compensation method using disturbance observer

A new on-line dead-time compensation method for a permanent magnet (PM) synchronous motor drive is proposed. Using a simple disturbance observer without any additional circuit and off-line experimental measurement, disturbance voltages in the rotor reference dq frame caused by the dead time and nonideal switching characteristics of power devices are estimated in an on-line manner and fed to voltage references in order to compensate the dead-time effects. The proposed method is applied to a PM synchronous motor drive system and implemented by using software of a digital signal processor (DSP) TMS320C31. Simulations and experiments are carried out for this system and the results well demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

A glance at artificial intelligence in France: editorial

This short text introduces this special issue of Computational Intelligence on artificial intelligence in France. After a brief presentation of the structure and the research activities in artificial intelligence in France, we introduce the papers enclosed herein.     

Effect of Annealing on the Surface Microstructure of Y-Ba-Cu-O Superconducting Ceramics

Precusors to the YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ material were prepared by both the oxalate precipitation method and conventional ceramic processing. Second-phase grains were observed to develop on the exposed fracture surface during annealing at 500° to 600°C in an ambient atmosphere. The second-phase grains were identified to be BaCO₃ using EDX and XRD. The liquid phase, which was formed because of local chemical inhomogeneity in the Y-Ba-Cu-O system, contributed to the formation of second-phase grains as a source of Ba.     

Preparation of aligned polyetherimide fiber by electrospinning

Fifteen to 20 wt % polyetherimide (PEI) solutions with 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP) were prepared. The electrical conductivity and surface tension of the solutions were determined. The fiber spinning technique of electrospinning was optimized in order to prepare unidirectionally aligned, structurally oriented nanofiber tows. The morphology of the PEI fibers was investigated using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The well-aligned fibers with diameters between 0.58 and 0.90 μm (FESEM) were collected by electrospinning 20 wt % PEI solutions with NMP in the range of 8–10 kV onto a target rotating with a surface velocity 9.8 m/s. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Correlation of vibrational intensity with fluorescence lifetimes in π conjugated polymers

A series of novel pi (π) conjugated polymers, originating from the archetypical Polyphenylene vinylene, in which the phenyl units are successively replaced by the larger naphthyl and anthryl acene units, were previously found to have a well-defined relationship between their relative fluorescence yields and their vibrational characteristics, as determined by Raman spectroscopy. In this study the Strickler-Berg equation is used to probe the influence of continual substitution of higher order acene units into the conjugated backbone in terms of the variation of the radiative and non-radiative rates. The deconvolution of the radiative and non-radiative rates enables the correlation of the reduction of the Raman intensity and concomitant increase in the fluorescence yield with the reduction of the non-radiative rate. This confirms that the reduction of the non-radiative rate is the dominant process introduced by the vibrational confinement originating from systematic substitution of higher order acene units into the polymer backbone.     

Self-controlled case series analyses: Small-sample performance

Second-order expressions for the asymptotic bias and variance of the log relative incidence estimator are derived for the self-controlled case series model in a simplified scenario. The dependence of the bias and variance on factors such as the relative incidence and ratio of risk to observation period are studied. Small-sample performance of the estimator in realistic scenarios is investigated using simulations. It is found that, in scenarios likely to arise in practice, asymptotic methods are valid for numbers of cases in excess of 20-50 depending on the ratio of the risk period to the observation period and on the relative incidence. The application of Monte Carlo methods to self-controlled case series analyses is also discussed.