High-Level fusion for intelligence applications using Recombinant Cognition Synthesis

Intelligence applications exploit heterogeneous data using High-Level fusion systems to gain information superiority. Whereas Low-Level fusion systems have well established frameworks, High-Level fusion has not yet achieved the same level of maturity. Most High-Level systems implement specialized algorithms that yield useful results, albeit for a very narrow input space, and are characterized by stove-pipe architectures and a fragmented workflow. Recombinant Cognition Synthesis bridges the implementation gap of existing fusion models by defining a comprehensive framework of semantic, temporal, and geospatial enablers comprising the primitives, functions, and models, which through a recombinant workflow, maximize the data exploitation value-chain. This paper presents a methodology and the underlying architectural components necessary to implement a unified High-Level fusion intelligence application, followed by a case study that demonstrates the resulting improvements in knowledge discovery and predictive accuracy.     

Transformation of higher education: the transdisciplinary approach in engineering

Educational programs face many difficulties because of the rapid change of technology in today's environment. The potential for educational programs based on the transdisciplinary model is discussed in order to address and overcome these difficulties. A closer relationship with industry in developing educational programs is suggested. Finally, a new transdisciplinary master of engineering program, developed jointly by industry and the Institute for Design and Advanced Technology at Texas Tech University, is described.     

Testing of Drug Release from Bioadhesive Vaginal Tablets

To establish en in vitro test method that can predict the drug release and dissolution behaviour of vaginal bioadhesive controlled release tablets, a system was developed and its appropriateness to the in situ conditions was examined. For this purpose, the dissolution rates of vaginal bioadhesive tablets were measured by three different methods. These were, USP dissolution apparatus two and a new vaginal dissolution tester (NVDT) which was developed by us with some modification of the vaginal tablet desentegration apparatus of BP 1988 and, testing in cow vaginas in situ. Four different bioadhesive tablet formulations were used being composed of the drug and the anionic polymer, polyacrylic acid (PAA) and the nonionic polymers, hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose (HPMC) and ethyIcellulose (EC). The release profiles of the in vitro and in situ methods were investigated and evaluated kinetically.

It was found that NVDT could be used to investigate the drug release from vaginal tablets.     

A Fast Noniterative Method for Adaptive Channel Equalization

The noniterative method of adaptive channel equalization proposed by Butler and Cantoni [1] is investigated. Its start-up time is improved remarkably by choosing the period of the training sequence judiciously and performing the estimation of channel parameters exactly over one period. The resulting version of the algorithm is as fast as the fastest known iterative algorithms, such as Godard's Kaiman algorithm [2].     

Exergetic analysis and evaluation of a new application of gas engine heat pumps (GEHPs) for food drying processes

In this study, three medicinal and aromatic plants (Foeniculum vulgare, Malva sylvestris L. and Thymus vulgaris) were dried in a pilot scale gas engine driven heat pump drier, which was designed, constructed and installed in Ege University, Izmir, Turkey. Drying experiments were performed at an air temperature of 45 °C with an air velocity of 1 m/s. In this work, the performance of the drier along with its main components is evaluated using exergy analysis method. The most important component for improving the system efficiency is found to be the gas engine, followed by the exhaust air heat exchanger for the drying system. An exergy loss and flow diagram (the so-called Grassmann diagram) of the whole drying system is also presented to give quantitative information regarding the proportion of the exergy input dissipated in the various system components, while the sustainability index values for the system components are calculated to indicate how sustainability is affected by changing the exergy efficiency of a process. Gas engine, expansion valve and drying ducts account for more than 60% amount of exergy in the system. The exergetic efficiency values are in the range of 77.68–79.21% for the heat pump unit, 39.26–43.24% for the gas engine driven heat pump unit, 81.29–81.56% for the drying chamber and 48.24–51.28% for the overall drying system.     

An alternative approach to the ground motion prediction problem by a non-parametric adaptive regression method

Ground Motion Prediction Equations (GMPEs) are empirical relationships which are used for determining the peak ground response at a particular distance from an earthquake source. They relate the peak ground responses as a function of earthquake source type, distance from the source, local site conditions where the data are recorded and finally the depth and magnitude of the earthquake. In this article, a new prediction algorithm, called Conic Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (CMARS), is employed on an available dataset for deriving a new GMPE. CMARS is based on a special continuous optimization technique, conic quadratic programming. These convex optimization problems are very well-structured, resembling linear programs and, hence, permitting the use of interior point methods. The CMARS method is performed on the strong ground motion database of Turkey. Results are compared with three other GMPEs. CMARS is found to be effective for ground motion prediction purposes.     

An information-theoretical framework for modeling component-based systems

Software systems tend to be large scale and complex with the inevitable increase in their functionalities. The increasing costs related to system development and maintenance in correlation to the software size requires new assessment tools for the newly evolving development methodologies. Taking advantage of existing tools and methodologies in a mature field is beneficial to relatively young, related disciplines. Therefore, this paper brings modeling techniques from a well-developed and mature discipline, information theory, into component-based software (CBS) engineering. Information-theoretic representation and analysis techniques in general, noiseless information channel concepts in particular, are good candidates to be adopted to model the dynamic behavior of software components and quantify the interaction between them. This modeling approach is realized by first modeling the component integration units of CBS with cubic control flowgraphs. The arcs in these models can be labeled as functions of parameters of their "hidden" components in the originating nodes or arcs, or both. Each of these labeled graphs defines a Shannon language. Then, a set of metrics, labeled as pervasive Shannon metrics is defined. Four case studies are demonstrated to show the applicability of the proposed metrics for assessment of CBS.     

Transportation pathways of pesticides in two major watersheds of Istanbul, Turkey.

The study covers the investigation of pesticides in terms of consumption, toxicological classification and various intrinsic physical and chemical properties like DT50, KOC, GUS, solubility that describe the important mechanisms prevailing in soil, namely persistence and mobility. These mechanisms help to estimate the transportation pathways of pesticides on soil till they reach the receiving water after being applied on land. Classification is done in three groups, those likely to appear in surface flow, those that appear in groundwater and those that present transient conditions. Such an approach that also takes into account toxicological levels and annual consumption values of pesticides will act as a tool to prepare the priority list of pesticides that need special care during their transportation. The fate of pesticides is a difficult task to solve, however, such a methodology, puts forth a rough estimate on their behavior in spite of uncertainties in many of the parameters describing mechanisms like persistence and mobility. The agricultural areas of two watersheds of Istanbul are selected as target areas to describe the approach, which is also checked with another approach estimating pesticide pollution potential that considers various other properties of pesticides. Almost similar findings are depicted with 85% proximity. The methodology presented in the paper illustrates and emphasizes the significant role of pesticide properties in determining their fate in soil after being applied.     

Polytetrahydrofuran macroinimer

Summary Polytetrahydrofuran macroinimers were synthesized by means of cationic polymerization of tetrahydrofuran, initiated by azo-oxocarbenium salt, followed by termination with methacrylate anion. The macroinimers were characterized by ¹H-NMR analysis and GPC measurements. Self polymerization of macroinimers and copolymerization with methyl methacrylate (MMA) yielded crosslinked and soluble branched block copolymers depending on the MMA concentration.