Adaptive agents and multiagent systems

New information systems and recent applications (grid computing, Web Services, and so on) are often distributed, large-scale, open, heterogeneous, and characterized by a dynamic environment. To model these complex systems, researchers have spent much effort during the last few years on multiagent systems. The aim is to model complex distributed systems as a set of (possibly organized) software agents that interact in a common environment. The decomposition of a system into a number of agents lets the system react and adapt better in a changing environment. Moreover, organized structures ("social" structures) can emerge from interactions between agents, which in turn constrain and coordinate the agents' behavior. A multiagent system takes its metaphors of interaction from social systems rather than using the metaphor of the isolated thinker that early artificial intelligence researchers preferred. An important issue when dealing with this increasing complexity is to build adaptive agents and multiagent systems. Agents and multiagent systems must be aware of their own capabilities and of changes to other agents and their environment. To remain effective, agents must be able to adapt their structures and knowledge while they execute.     

The First Template‐Free Growth of Crystalline Silicon Microtubes

A simple template‐free high‐temperature evaporation method was developed for the growth of crystalline Si microtubes for the first time. As‐grown Si microtubes were characterized using X‐ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and room‐temperature photoluminescence. The lengths of the Si tubes can reach several hundreds of micrometers; some of them have lengths on the order of millimeters. Each tube has a uniform outer diameter along its entire length, and the typical outer diameter is ≈ 2–3 μm. Most of the tubes have a wall thickness of ≈ 400–500 nm, though a considerable number of them exhibit a very thin wall thickness of ≈ 50 nm. Room‐temperature photoluminescence measurement shows the as‐synthesized Si microtubes have two strong emission peaks centered at ≈ 589 nm and ≈ 617 nm and a weak emission peak centered at ≈ 455 nm. A possible mechanism for the formation of these Si tubes is proposed. We believe that the present discovery of the crystalline Si microtubes will promote further experimental studies on their physical properties and smart applications.     

Electronic properties of magnetically doped nanotubes

Effect of doping of carbon nanotubes by magnetic transition metal atoms has been considered in this paper. In the case of semiconducting tubes, it was found that the system has zero magnetization, whereas in metallic tubes the valence electrons of the tube screen the magnetization of the dopants: the coupling to the tube is usually antiferromagnetic (except for Cr).     

Wavelet-based Rayleigh background removal in MRI

Rayleigh distribution governs noise in 'no signal' regions of magnetic resonance magnitude images. Large areas of background noise in MRI images will seriously affect their effective utilisation. A new wavelet-based algorithm is presented that can work efficiently either as a standalone procedure or couple with existing denoising algorithms to significantly improve their effectiveness.     

一种计算机实时控制系统的分析及其DCS实现

简述了计算机实时控制及分布式控制系统(DCS)的一般特点．并以某型水下机器人的控制系统为例，详细介绍了一种小型实时DCS系统的具体实现。     

水力脉动冲击钻井工具初步研究与试验

掘力脉动冲击钻井是将水力脉冲、机械冲击振动结合为一体提高钻井速度的一种方法，介绍了辽河油田研制的脉动冲击钻井工具的结构、工作原理及现场试验情况。在潜山混合花岗岩、砂岩，硬脆性泥岩等不同地层的现场试验表明：水力脉动工具工作平稳，未出现蹩跳钻现象，也没有出现脱、落、断、掉等问题，主体安全性、可靠性较好；在潜山混舍花岗岩、砂岩、硬脆性泥岩地层机械钻速提高幅度较大，但在部分泥岩地层效果不佳。试验中发现密封圈耐温性差、脉冲腔易磨损等问题，并据此提出了水力脉动冲击工具的下一步研究方向。     

Influence of thermal treatments on the elastic parameters in iron rich metallic glasses

The change of magnetoelastic properties after thermal treatments has been investigated for two groups of metallic glasses. (Fe₇₉Co₂₁)_75+xSi_15−1.4xB_10+0.4x (x (at.%)=0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10) has been studied both in the as-prepared state and after thermal annealing in an applied magnetic field, to achieve a particular domain structure, at temperatures well below the crystallization temperatures. Changes in the ΔE effect, magnetomechanical coupling (k) and internal friction coefficient (Q⁻¹) are reported, reaching values of about 60% of the saturation value E_S. Fe₆₄Ni₁₀Nb₃Cu₁Si₁₃B₉ alloys annealed in vacuum for 1 h in the temperature range 350–550 °C showed maximum values of the ΔE effect and k of 61% and 0.85, respectively, accompanied by a minimum value of Q of around 2 for the sample annealed at 460 °C. These variations are related to the progress of nanocrystalization. The properties achieved are among the best reported for magnetomechanical applications.