BerlinTainment: an agent-based context-aware entertainment planning system

Service providers, especially in the mobile entertainment domain, are facing increasing competition. The ability to design, develop, and deploy unique context-aware entertainment services fast and easily as well as the capability to provide intuitive user interfaces becomes essential for market players. Furthermore, today's mobile world is made up of heterogeneous networks accessible via various devices with different characteristics. Progressive users have the desire to utilize the same services and access the same information content on all available devices. At the same time, service providers have to diversify their services in order to remain competitive and attract the various customer segments making up the mass market. We introduce an agent-based serviceware framework to assist service providers in developing innovative services, thus reducing the time to market of the respective applications. The realized serviceware framework offers personalization, location awareness, and the multi-access service platform, a flexible solution for ubiquitous service access. Thus, our solution allows a heterogeneous landscape of end devices to access an application server's mobile services in a multimodal, multilingual, and multimedia-based manner. We describe the utilization of the different modules of the service framework as well as the BerlinTainment application, an entertainment planning system based on the framework.     

Mechanism of the skeletal isomerisation of linear butenes over ferrierite: analysis of side reactions

An investigation of the effect of reaction conditions on product distribution in the skeletal isomerisation reaction of linear butenes has been carried out. The main reaction routes over ferrierite have been identified. Beside the main product isobutene, major by-product formation occurs. The unwanted reactions include dimerisation of butene to form octenes, hydrogen transfer yielding small amounts of saturated C₃ and C₄ hydrocarbons and disproportionation producing propene and pentenes. The most abundant by-products were pentene and propene, though these were not formed in equimolar amounts as could be expected. Oligomerisation experiments of propene over ferrierite produced large amounts of butene and pentene, revealing the presence of adsorbed nonene. The cracking of this surface species to hexene and propene is the most likely reaction route for the excess propene formation. This additional path to propene formation operates mainly at temperatures above 623 K.     

Synthesis,characterization and properties of functionalized styrene–maleimide copolymers

New functionalized styrene–maleimide copolymers were prepared by free radical copolymerization of styrene (St) and N‐4‐carboxybutylmaleimide (NBMI) in chloroform, using 2,2′‐azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as initiator. Monomer and copolymer characterization was carried out by ¹H‐ and ¹³C‐NMR. Copolymer composition was determined by elemental analysis and Fourier‐transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The glass transition temperature (from DSC) and the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) of the copolymers were consistent with the thermal behavior and stability observed for alternating St–maleimide copolymers. St–NBMI copolymers crosslinked with divinylbenzene (DVB) were also synthesized and their cation exchange properties evaluated in order to assess the capacity of the new copolymers to bind metallic ions. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry     

Synthesis of 2,7‐Carbazolenevinylene‐Based Copolymers and Characterization of Their Photovoltaic Properties

New electroactive and photoactive conjugated copolymers consisting of alternating 2,7‐carbazole and oligothiophene moieties linked by vinylene groups have been developed. Different oligothiophene units have been introduced to study the relationship between the polymer structure and the electronic properties. The resulting copolymers are characterized by UV‐vis spectroscopy, size‐exclusion chromatography, and thermal and electrochemical analyses. Bulk heterojunction photovoltaic cells from different copolymers and a soluble fullerene derivative, [6,6]‐phenyl‐C₆₁ butyric acid methyl ester, have been fabricated, and promising preliminary results are obtained. For instance, non‐optimized devices using poly(N‐(4‐octyloxyphenyl)‐2,7‐carbazolenevinylene‐alt‐3″,4″‐dihexyl‐2,2′;5′,2″;5″,2″′;5″′,2″″‐quinquethiophenevinylene 1″,1″‐dioxide) as an absorbing and hole‐carrier semiconductor exhibit power conversion efficiency up to 0.8 % under air mass (AM) 1.5 illumination. These features make 2,7‐carbazolenevinylene‐based and related polymers attractive candidates for solar‐cell applications.     

The Metaflow architecture

The Metaflow architecture, a unified approach to maximizing the performance of superscalar microprocessors, is introduced. The Metaflow architecture exploits inherent instruction-level parallelism in conventional sequential programs by hardware means, without relying on optimizing compilers. It is based on a unified structure, the DRIS (deferred-scheduling, register-renaming instruction shelf), that manages out-of-order execution and most of the attendant problems. Coupling the DRIS with a speculative-execution mechanism that avoids conditional branch stalls results in performance limited only be inherent instruction-level parallelism and available execution resources. Although presented in the context of superscalar machines, the technique is equally applicable to a superpipelined implementation. Lightning, the first implementation of the Metaflow architecture, which executes the Sparc RISC instruction set is described     

Tracking and force control for a class of robotic manipulators

The increasing utilization of robotic manipulators in industrial tasks, such as assembly, forming or shaping of surfaces, and handling hazardous materials, depends greatly on available hybrid force and position control schemes. Since the robot and its environment are often subject to parameter uncertainties that cannot be neglected, it is necessary to design controllers that are robust with respect to these uncertainties. In addition, the dynamics of the robot are nonlinear, requiring consideration of nonlinear control concepts. Another aspect to be taken into account is the relative stiffness of the robot, the force sensor, and the manipulated surface. That is, the behavior of the system normal to the surface is relatively stiff, while that tangential to the surface is relatively free. Separation of the controller for these two directions is therefore indicated. We propose a controller design that accounts for this point of view and demonstrate its efficacy with respect to robustness and accuracy of position and force tracking by means of numerical simulations. The design is based on the control concept of Corless and Leitmann [l]. The example considered is a Manutecr3 robot with three degrees of freedom. In addition, we account for the dynamics of the actuator, which also possesses three degrees of freedom. The considered parameter uncertainties are friction moments in the links and friction between the end effector and the manipulated object, as well as nonlinear dynamics, which are difficult to characterize.Recommended by J. Skowronski     

Microstructural engineering applied to the controlled cooling of steel wire rod: Part I. Experimental design and heat transfer

The goal of this study was to develop a mathematical model which incorporates heat flow, phase transformation kinetics, and property-structure-composition relationships to predict the mechanical properties of steel rod being control cooled under industrial conditions. Thus, the principles of microstructural engineering have been brought to bear on this interdisciplinary problem by combining computer modeling with laboratory measurements of heat flow, austenite decomposition kinetics, microstructure and mechanical properties, and industrial trials to determine heat transfer and obtain rod samples under known conditions. Owing to the length and diversity of the study, it is reported in three parts,_[8191]the first of which is concerned with the heat flow measurements. A relatively simple and reliable technique, involving a preheated steel rod instrumented with a thermocouple secured at its centerline, has been devised to determine the cooling rate in different regions of the moving bed of rod loops on an operating Stelmor line. The measured thermal response of the rod has been analyzed by two transient conduction models (lumped and distributed parameter, respectively) to yield overall heat-transfer coefficients for radiation and convection. The adequacy of the technique has been checked by cooling instrumented rods under well-defined, air crossflow conditions in the laboratory and comparing measured heat-transfer coefficients to values predicted from well-established equations. The industrial thermal measurements have permitted the characterization of a coefficient to account for radiative interaction among adjacent rod loops near the edge and at the center of the bed. Formerly Graduate Student, The University of British Columbia.     

Failure loads for notched graphite/epoxy laminates with a softening strip

The strengths of two graphite/epoxy notched laminate systems with a softening strip were investigated. The softening strip was created by replacing the 0°-graphite/epoxy plies by a glass/epoxy composite. Experimental results indicated that the use of softening strips could significantly increase the laminate strength. Analysis was performed with finite elements developed using the classical laminated plate theory and was shown to be adequate. A simple point-stress failure criterion was used to predict the strength of notched laminates with softening strips and the result was found to be satisfactory.     

Electrical characterization of megabit DRAMs. 11. Internal testing

For pt.I. see ibid., vol.8, no.3, p.36-43 (1991). Contactless tools for testing inside dynamic RAMs, including hot-spot detection, emission microscopy, scanning laser microscopy, and submicron electron beam testing, are described. Basic principles and experimental setups are described. The utility of the techniques is assessed