Disk drive control: The early years

One of the persistently exciting control applications is that of disk drive servos. From the start in the early 1950s to the massive capacity commodity drives of the early 2000s, the problem of accessing data on rotating disk media has provided a wealth of control challenges to be solved. This survey paper traces the early history of disk drive control from the first disk drive in 1956 to the first commercial drive with Magneto-Resistive heads in 1990. Rather than the approach used in (Abramovitch and Franklin, 2002a) in which the histories of the components were outlined first, we will focus on the feedback loop itself in those early days. The paper will survey the different areas of the disk drive control problem and how they evolved.     

Null controllable region of LTI discrete-time systems with input saturation

We present a formula for the extremes of the null controllable region of a general LTI discrete-time system with bounded inputs. For an nth order system with only real poles (not necessarily distinct), the formula is simplified to an elementary matrix function, which in turn shows that the set of the extremes coincides with a set of trajectories of the time-reversed system under bang-bang controls with n−2 or less switches.     

Automated Negotiation from Declarative Contract Descriptions

Our approach for automating the negotiation of business contracts proceeds in three broad steps. First, determine the structure of the negotiation process by applying general knowledge about auctions and domain–specific knowledge about the contract subject along with preferences from potential buyers and sellers. Second, translate the determined negotiation structure into an operational specification for an auction platform. Third, after the negotiation has completed, map the negotiation results to a final contract. We have implemented a prototype which supports these steps by employing a declarative specification (in courteous logic programs) of (1) high–level knowledge about alternative negotiation structures, (2) general–case rules about auction parameters, (3) rules to map the auction parameters to a specific auction platform, and (4) special–case rules for subject domains. We demonstrate the flexibility of this approach by automatically generating several alternative negotiation structures for the domain of travel shopping in a trading agent competition.     

Interlingua-based English–Korean Two-way Speech Translation of Doctor–Patient Dialogues with CCLINC

Development of a robust two-way real-time speech translationsystem exposes researchers and system developers to various challenges of machine translation(MT) and spoken language dialogues. The need for communicating in at least two differentlanguages poses problems not present for a monolingual spoken language dialogue system,where no MT engine is embedded within the process flow. Integration of various componentmodules for real-time operation poses challenges not present for text translation. In this paper,we present the CCLINC (Common Coalition Language System at Lincoln Laboratory) English–Koreantwo-way speech translation system prototype trained on doctor–patient dialogues,which integrates various techniques to tackle the challenges of automatic real-time speechtranslation. Key features of the system include (i) language–independent meaning representation which preserves the hierarchicalpredicate–argument structure of an input utterance, providing a powerful mechanism for discourse understanding of utterances originating from different languages,word-sense disambiguation and generation of various word orders of many languages, (ii) adoptionof the DARPA Communicator architecture, a plug-and-play distributed system architecturewhich facilitates integration of component modules and system operation in real time, and (iii)automatic acquisition of grammar rules and lexicons for easy porting of the system to differentlanguages and domains. We describe these features in detail and present experimental results.     

Liver and intestinal fatty acid-binding protein expression increases phospholipid content and alters phospholipid fatty acid composition in L-cell fibroblasts

Although fatty acid-binding proteins (FABP) differentially affect fatty acid uptake, nothing is known regarding their role(s) in determining cellular phospholipid levels and phospholipid fatty acid composition. The effects of liver (L)- and intestinal (I)-FABP expression on these parameters were determined using stably transfected L-cells. Expression of L- and I-FABP increased cellular total phospholipid mass (nmol/mg protein) 1.7- and 1.3-fold relative to controls, respectively. L-FABP expression increased the masses of choline glycerophospholipids (ChoGpl) 1.5-fold, phosphatidylserine (PtdSer) 5.6-fold, ethanolamine glycerophospholipids 1.4-fold, sphingomyelin 1.7-fold, and phosphatidylinositol 2.6-fold. In contrast, I-FABP expression only increased the masses of ChoGpl and PtdSer, 1.2- and 3.1-fold, respectively. Surprisingly, both L- and I-FABP expression increased ethanolamine plasmalogen mass 1.6- and 1.1-fold, respectively, while choline plasmalogen mass was increased 2.3- and 1.7-fold, respectively. The increase in phospholipid levels resulted in dramatic 48 and 33% decreases in the cholesterol-to-phospholipid ratio in L- and I-FABP expressing cells, respectively. L-FABP expression generally increased polyunsaturated fatty acids, primarily by increasing 20∶4n−6 and 22∶6n−3, while decreasing 18∶1n−9 and 16∶1n−7. I-FABP expression generally increased only 20∶4n−6 proportions. Hence, expression of both I- and L-FABP differentially affected phospholipid mass, class composition, and acyl chain composition. Although both proteins enhanced phospholipid synthesis, the effect of L-FABP was much greater, consistent with previous work suggesting that these two FABP differentially affect lipid metabolism.     

Collaborative systems: Evolving databases and the “Conditions of possibility”-artificial life models of agency in on-line interactive art

This paper will discuss interactive on-line artworks modelled on cellular automata that employ various types of agents, both algorithmic and human, to assist in the evolution of their databases. These works constitute what will here be referred to as Collaborative Systems systems that evolve through the practice of inter-authorship.     

Perspectives on Analytical Modeling of Small Geometry MOSFETs in SPICE for Low Voltage/Low Power CMOS Circuit Design

The present state of the art in analytical MOSFET modeling for SPICE circuit simulation is reviewed, with emphasis on the circuit design usage of these models. It is noted that the model formulation represents an upper limit of what is possible from any type of model, but that good parameter extraction is required to most closely approach that limit. The individual model types presently in common use are examined, with discussion of the behavior of each model, its strengths and weaknesses, its applicability to certain types of circuits, and criteria that a circuit design consumer can employ to judge a model before using it for circuit design. Some related issues, such as node charge and gate capacitance modeling, charge conservation, and statistical simulation of process variations, are also evaluated. Finally, new trends, directions, and requirements of MOSFET modeling for circuit simulation are considered.     

Spectroscopic analysis of fire suppressants and refrigerants by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy is evaluated as a means of detecting the fire suppressants CF(3)Br, C(3)F(7)H, and CF(4) and the refrigerant C(2)F(4)H(2). The feasibility of employing laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy for time- and space-resolved measurement of these agents during use, storage, and recharge is discussed. Data are presented that demonstrate the conditions necessary for optimal detection of these chemicals.     

Managing job seekers' organizational image beliefs: The role of media richness and media credibility.

In this article, the authors assessed job seekers' organizational image beliefs before and after they experienced 3 recruitment media. The authors examined whether perceptions of media richness and credibility were related to improvements in the correspondence between job seekers' image beliefs and firms' projected images. Both media richness and credibility perceptions were associated with correspondence between job seekers' image beliefs and firms' projected images. However, results revealed that richness and credibility perceptions were likely to enhance job seekers' initial beliefs about firms' images when their beliefs were positive but did not diminish job seekers' beliefs about firms' images when their initial impressions were too positive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Chemical and microbiological quality of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) slaughtered by different methods

The effect of two slaughter methods (immersion in ice-water slurry and electrical stunning followed by ice slurry asphyxiation) on chemical and microbiological parameters of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) stored in ice for 20 days was evaluated. No differences in total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), pH, carbohydrate or protein content of mucus were observed between the slaughter methods. Ice-slaughtered fish had lower bacteria counts at the beginning of storage, but higher counts than fish slaughtered by electricity at the end of storage (p < 0.05). However, no significant differences in the shelf life were observed between the slaughter methods evaluated (limit of acceptability – counts > 3 × 10⁶ CFU g⁻¹ – attained after 13–16 days). Results indicated that the chemical parameters evaluated have a limited applicability to assess the shelf life of grass carp stored in ice, since pH limit (6.8) was exceeded after 4 days, while TVB-N limit (30 mg%) was not attained after 20 days of storage.