Rule-based XML

Legal contracts and litigation documents common to the American legal system were encoded in the eXtensible Markup Language (XML). XML also represents rules about the contracts and litigation procedure. In addition to an expert system tool that allows one to make inferences with that engine, a Graphical User Interface (GUI) generates the XML representing the rules. A rulebase is developed by marking up examples of the XML to be interpreted and the XML to be generated, analogously to Query By Example. This article provides a broader context of the synergy between XML and artificial intelligence by including discussions of: (1) the role of Artificial Intelligence in handling routine litigation; (2) how the use of XML enables legal expert systems to get their `input' without the user having to enter the same information again for the expert system;(3) the advantages of XML markup over other forms of markup for documents; (4) the relationship between XML and ontologies; (5) other projects using XML with rules or legal affairs.     

Stationary thermal field in a long duct of an electrical heating system

Contents The subject of this work is the analysis of a stationary thermal field in a long duct of an electrical floor heating system. Parallel sectors of the heating cable are modelled by heat sources of the emitted power linear density. The resultant thermal field is described by a partial differential equation of the elliptic type with boundary conditions of the second and third kind. The problem is solved by the method of eigenfunctions. The results are reduced to a dimensionless form and numerically processed. The field distributions obtained are presented in graphical form, with the number of sectors of the heating cable in the duct being changed.

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Das stationäre Temperaturfeld im langen Kanal einer elektrischen Fußbodenheizung

Übersicht Der Artikel analysiert das stationäre Temperaturfeld im langen Kanal einer elektrischen Heizung. Parallele Kabelstrecken wurden durch Wärmequellen ersertzt. Das Temperaturfeld wird mit Hilfe der partiellen Differentialgleichung des elliptischen Typs dargestellt. Dieses Problem hat man durch die Eigenfunktion gelöst. Die Ergebnisse wurden in eine dimensionslose Form umgewandelt und numerisch bearbeitet. Die Feldverteilungen wurden graphisch dargestellt, wobei die Anzahl der Kabelabschnitte verändert wird.

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List of symbols A dimensionless constant, determined by (6b) - 2a, 2b dimensions of the cross-section of the duct (Fig. 1.) - B _mm coefficient of the series (5), determined by (8) - c _k relation of linear density of the power of heaters; thek-th to the first (q _k /q ₁) - K number of heaters - k index of thek-th heater (k=1,2,...,K) - L(x/2b, y/2b) total dimensionless thermal field in the duct - L _k (x/2b, y/2b) dimensionless component of thermal field caused by thek-th heater (with the others turned off) - q _k linear density of the power of thek-th heater [W/m] (k=1,2,...,K) - S cross-section of the duct - T=T(x, y) total temperature field in the duct - T _k (x, y) component of the temperature field in the duct caused by thek-th heater (with the others turned off) - T ₀ temperature of air far from the top surface of the duct - v _k (x, y)=T _k (x, y)–T ₀ k-th component of an increase in the thermal field in the duct over the valueT ₀, caused by thek-th heater (with the others turned off) - (x, y) Cartesian coordinates of a point in the duct - (x _k ,y _k ) coordinates of the position of thek-th sector of the heating cable, averaging coefficient of heat transfer to air (sum of the radiation and convection coefficients) [W/(m ² K)] - averaging coeffiecient of heat transfer to air (sum of the radiation and convection coefficeints) [W/(m ² K)], - _n successive positive roots of (6a), (6b) - (x–x _k ), (y–y _k) Dirac's deltas shifted tox _k andy _k respectively - _m0 Kronecker's symbol - averaging heat conductivity of micro-reinforced concrete [W/(mk)]     

The evaluation of reliability and validity of a preliminary version of the Clinical Assessment of Schizophrenic Syndrome (CASS)

This article describes the development, field testing, and evaluation of an interactive computer program, "Life Challenge," developed by the New York State Department of Health as a tool for enhancing adolescents' sense of self-efficacy in HIV/AIDS prevention programs. The computer kiosks were field tested in 13 sites serving high-risk adolescents. The program uses a time travel adventure game format to provide information and nonthreatening skill practice. Users record and play back their responses as they "negotiate" with their chosen partners. A proof of concept evaluation with analysis of 211 audio responses found that users took negotiating tasks seriously; statistically significant learning gains were achieved on knowledge items and in self-efficacy scores (greatest improvement for those with low baseline self-efficacy levels). Challenges and problems encountered in implementing the project are described, and the potential of using computers for skill practice and educational interventions in health education is explored.     

Pairwise testing for systems with data derived from real‐valued variable inputs

Pairwise testing is an effective combinatorial test case generation approach in which test cases are developed to execute all possible pairwise combinations of system inputs. It can help reduce the number of test cases and save testing time yet still effective in finding defects. However, it is very difficult for practitioners to effectively apply pairwise testing in the real world because of the lack of suitable techniques and guidelines. To redress this situation, this paper conducts a case study of applying pairwise testing to system data derived from real‐valued variable inputs. In order to apply pairwise testing to this case study, this paper develops a test procedure and a novel partitioning method to test derived data as a naïve application of the conventional pairwise testing that would produce a huge number of test cases. A comparative evaluation shows that the pairwise testing of the proposed approach is more effective than the random testing with a 12–20% higher fault detection ratio. Based on our experience, guidelines for applying pairwise testing in practice are also presented. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Feasibility study on magnetically steerable guidewire device for percutaneous coronary intervention

In this paper, we proposed a magnetically steerable guidewire device composed of two parts: steering part and feeding part. The steering part consists of a magnet attached to the end of a commercial guidewire and 2-pair Helmholtz coils, and the feeding part consists of a motorized stage and a device for holding the guidewire. In detail, the 2-pair Helmholtz coils generate a uniform magnetic field that can align the guidewire magnet in the region of interest (ROI) along a desired direction. In addition, the feeding part remotely controls guidewire insertion and the length of the flexible part of the guidewire extruded from a catheter. For accurate alignment at the end of the guidewire, we controlled the flexible length of the guidewire extruded from a catheter and the intensity and direction of the uniform magnetic field using the feed-forward method. In addition, to reduce alignment error due to unpredicted disturbances and friction effects between the test-bed and the guidewire, proportional-integralderivative control is introduced as a feedback control algorithm. Using the control algorithms, we demonstrated accurate actuation of the steerable guidewire device with a steering angle error of less than 0:5◦. We expect that the proposed steerable guidewire device can be applied to the development of a 3-D locomotive guidewire with position recognition for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

     

Blow-assisted multi-jet electrospinning of poly-L-lactic acid nanofibers

Regardless the low production rate, electrospinning remains the attractive technique for the nanofibers production in various fields. Thus, the development of a multi-jet technologies for electrospinning gives an opportunity to scale up and increase throughput of the fibers production. However, the multi-jet electrospinning technologies exhibit one major drawback– electrostatic mutual jet repulsion issue. In present research, we propose air blow-assisted multi-jet electrospinning system allowing production of nanofibers with yield, at least, tenfold higher than single jet electrospinning. The system produces nanofibers in two modes: multi-jet electrospinning and blow-assisted multi-jet electrospinning. In case of the latter, the application of sheath air stream allows the system to overcome the electrostatic mutual repulsion issue. These lead to the reduction of deviation of the polymer solution jets, the reduction of instabilities of the jets and the improvement of the control of the nanofibers deposition. Nanofibers morphology and size were investigated based on the scanning electron microscope micrographs. The comparison of the two modes shows changes in nanofibers morphology from beaded structure to fine nanofibers, and the slight increase in fiber mean size when the blowing assistance was applied to the process.     

Isotopic assessment of CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> production through soil organic matter decomposition in the tropics

Values of ¹³C and ¹⁵N of soil organic matter (SOM) under different land cover in Pasir Mayang, Jambi Province, Sumatra Island, Indonesia were examined to apply them as indicators of SOM dynamics and related CO₂ production. The ¹³C and ¹⁵N values of SOM increased with depth in the 0–30 cm layer in the preserved forest, reflecting ¹³C and ¹⁵N richment in SOM through mineralization and immobilization. The degree of vertical enrichment, difference between 0–5 cm and 10–15 cm SOM, was more pronounced in ¹⁵N than in ¹³C at all sites in Pasir Mayang. The ¹³C -SOM profiles fluctuated through clear-cutting the forest and subsequent burning, which was due to input of biomass with higher C/N molar ratio and lower ¹³C value than the original SOM. However, the ¹⁵N-SOM profiles before and after such a drastic event did not change appreciably. The ¹⁵N-SOM became higher as the C/N ratio decreased and as soil sugar content decreased. These observations suggest that ¹⁵N-SOM is a variable that changes with the amount of easily decomposable organic matter (EDOM) in soil. Soil incubation experiments demonstrated a correlation between CO₂ production rate and degree of vertical ¹⁵N-enrichment in SOM, which was applied to field data to estimate CO₂ production through SOM decomposition. A similar analysis was performed with the soils collected at 27 locations in other districts in Jambi Province than Pasir Mayang. In five locations covered by oil palm plantation, CO₂ production through SOM decomposition controlled 70 of variation in CO₂ emission among the locations. In the remaining 22 locations, however, the CO₂ emission was neither related to CO₂ production from SOM nor to ground litter amount. This observation indicated that mechanisms other than dead organic matter decomposition such as root respiration were dominant sources for CO₂ emission in these sites.     

Resistance to Coking Determination by Temperature Programmed Reaction of n-Butane with Steam

Resistance to coking is one of the most important characteristics of nickel catalysts used for steam reforming of hydrocarbons, CO₂ reforming or methanation of carbon oxides. Microbalance reactors have for a long time played an important role in catalyst deactivation studies, providing coking and coke gasification rates. However, conventional thermogravimetric microbalances have a number of limitations. The aim of this paper is to compare initial temperatures of coking of Ni and Ni-Mo catalysts (with different resistance to coking) obtained in the temperature-programmed reaction of _n-butane with steam with the results of coking rates obtained by the traditional thermogravimetric method. The investigations showed great agreement of the results.     

Communication system using EOG for persons with disabilities and its judgment by EEG

The aim of this study was to present electrooculogram (EOG) signals that can be used for human computer interface efficiently. Establishing an efficient alternative channel for communication without overt speech and hand movements is important to increase the quality of life for patients suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or other diseases that prevent correct limb and facial muscular responses. Using EOG signals, it is possible to improve the communication abilities of those patients who can move their eyes. Investigating the possible usage of the EOG for human–computer interface, a relation between sight angle and EOG is determined. In other methodology, most famous approaches involve the use of a camera to visually track the eye. However, this method has problems that the eyes of user must always be open. In this paper, we propose the mouse cursor control system for ALS patients using EOG and electroencephalograph (EEG) signals. We introduced the algorithm using alternating current and direct current of EOG corresponding to the drift. Therefore, EOG measurement system we proposed improved the problems of artifacts caused by eye blinking which was not accepted for other systems, the displacement of electrode positions and the drift. In addition, we introduced the EEG measurement to examine whether the subject could control their eye movement consciously. The EEG signals were not used to control the mouse movement, but to determine the subject’s control state. In order to test whether our system works well, we prepared a questionnaire and asked the subjects to operate our system, and answer with YES or NO by moving the mouse cursor. During the task, we also recorded the subjects’ EEG by MYNDPLAY [7] and checked their conscious level. Three subjects participated in this experiment, and they had never operated this system before. In this experiment, we measured 30 states of EEG signals while EOG was also measuring for one eye movement and analyzed the EEG signals. The results of analysis of the EEG signal changes and the answers to questions indicated that at 26 of 30 states, the subjects’ conscious level while they were moving the cursor by EOG signals was correctly determined from the EEG signals. From these results, we could know that the EEG signals can be used to adjust the EOG system whether it works according to patients’ mind or just a misjudgment.     

Shape-controlled synthesis of nanocarbons from resorcinol-formaldehyde nanopolymers using surfactant-templated vesicular assemblies

The NaOH-catalyzed polymerization of resorcinol (R) and formaldehyde (F) confined to the vesicular assemblies of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide as a core template mixed with 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene and tert-butanol (tBuOH) as cosurfactants yielded RF polymer/cetyltrimethylammonium composite nanowires and nanospheres depending on the amount of tBuOH. Carbonization of the resulting nanpolymers led to microporous carbon nanowires of 45-240 nm diameter and nanospheres of 260-650 nm diameter. Similar but a little modified reactions successfully resulted in monodispersed carbon nanospheres of ca. 280 nm diameter as well as monodispersed carbon nanowires of ca. 70 nm diameter with a high surface area of 1777 m²/g. The present approach could be further extended to the synthesis of a wide range of carbon nanomaterials by using various surfactants and cosurfactants.