A multi-agent decision support system for stock trading

A distributed problem solving system can be characterized as a group of individual cooperating agents running to solve common problems. As dynamic application domains continue to grow in scale and complexity, it becomes more difficult to control the purposeful behavior of agents, especially when unexpected events may occur. This article presents an information and knowledge exchange framework to support distributed problem solving. From the application viewpoint the article concentrates on the stock trading domain; however, many presented solutions can be extended to other dynamic domains. It addresses two important issues: how individual agents should be interconnected so that their resources are efficiently used and their goals accomplished effectively; and how information and knowledge transfer should take place among the agents to allow them to respond successfully to user requests and unexpected external situations. The article introduces an architecture, the MASST system architecture, which supports dynamic information and knowledge exchange among the cooperating agents. The architecture uses a dynamic blackboard as an interagent communication paradigm to facilitate factual data, business rule, and command exchange between cooperating MASST agents. The critical components of the MASST architecture have been implemented and tested in the stock trading domain, and have proven to be a viable solution for distributed problem solving based on cooperating agents     

Functional Properties and Food Applications of Rapeseed Protein Concentrate

Rapeseed protein concentrate (RC), prepared with 2% hexameta-phosphate, was tested for its functionality and performance in some foods. The RC had good nitrogen solubility, fat absorption, emulsification, and whipping capacities but poor water absorption and gelling properties. It increased the emulsion stability, and protein but lowered the fat content of wieners. It also increased the cooking yield, reduced the shrinkage and tenderized meat patties. Results were similar to soybean isolate except for the poorer color and flavor. The cooking yield of RC supplemented wieners was less than the all-meat control and soybean-supplemented wieners. A 9% RC dispersion mixed with an equal volume of eggwhite produced a meringue of comparable stability and texture to that of eggwhite alone.     

UNIDIRECTIOX4L CUSS FIBRE DRYING KINETICS

The paper presents the results of research in the convection drying of unidirectional glass fibre bobbins on the basis of which the relations are suggested required to calculate the process of drying in the design of drying equipment.     

OTDM transmitter using WDM-TDM conversion with an electroabsorptionwavelength converter

An all-optical multiplexing technique using wavelength division multiplexing (WDM)-time division multiplexing (TDM) conversion with an electroabsorption wavelength converter has been proposed and demonstrated. The effectiveness of this WDM-TDM conversion technique for various pulsewidth settings was experimentally investigated. The fluctuation of the signal performance, which was inevitably caused by the coherent crosstalk between adjacent pulses in the conventional optical time division multiplexing (OTDM) technique, were successfully suppressed, even in the case of wide pulse duration. High Q-factor performance has been maintained for a wide range of duty ration from 36% to 74%. By introducing this technique to the optical time division multiplexer, a highly stable and high-quality 40-Gb/s optical signal can be effectively produced without generating the short pulse or setting two tributaries at orthogonal polarization states, and without introducing high-speed electronics for signal multiplexing. The WDM-TDM conversion with an electroabsorption wavelength converter was extended to 60-Gb/s operation by using three 20-Gb/s tributaries. A clear eye opening was confirmed for a waveform after the WDM-TDM conversion of the 60-Gb/s signal     

International legislation on trace elements as contaminants in food: a review

Environmental contaminants such as trace elements may be present in all foods. Foods, raw materials and ingredients for food production are to an increasing extent traded across borders. Hence, there is a need for international legislation on trace elements as contaminants in food. In 1961, the FAO and WHO established the Codex Alimentarius to elaborate international food legislation. Contaminants in food are handled by the Codex Committee for Food Additives and Contaminants (CCFAC). The Codex Alimentarius system for developing legislation concerning trace elements as contaminants in food is based upon the Codex General Standard for Contaminants and Toxins in Food (GSCTF). By October 2001, the principles for setting maximum limits (MLs) for contaminants in food are agreed, and work is in progress on MLs for trace elements such as lead and cadmium in the various food categories. The status for the proposals is presented and discussed. The EU Regulation 466/2001 of 8 March 2001 sets MLs for lead and cadmium in various foods. This regulation will apply from 5 April 2002. The EU regulation is more detailed but similar to the Codex draft standards for lead and cadmium in food. In future, legislators and administrators in the Codex and EU and analytical chemists will discuss how to use more and better analytical data as risk-management tools to protect public health. Trace elements' speciation is an important aspect of this discussion.     

Fast algorithms for estimating the correlation functions of large signals

A fast algorithm is proposed for estimating the auto- and cross-correlation functions of a large signal. The algorithm is based on the sectioning method by the fast Fourier transform. We determine the optimal length of the portion of data read from external memory into RAM which achieves T_min—a minimum processing time. An estimate of T_min is obtained.Translated from Kibernetika, No. 3, pp. 78–81, May–June, 1991.     

Performance engineering and topological design of metro WDM opticalnetworks using computer simulation

This paper demonstrates the use of computer simulation for topological design and performance engineering of transparent wavelength-division multiplexing metropolitan-area networks. Engineering of these networks involves the study of various transport-layer impairments such as amplifier noise, component ripple, chirp/dispersion, optical crosstalk, waveform distortion due to filter concatenation, fiber nonlinearities, and polarization effects. A computer simulation methodology composed of three main simulation steps is derived and implemented. This methodology obtains performance estimations by applying efficient wavelength-domain simulations on the entire network topology, followed by time-/frequency-domain simulations on selected paths of the network and finally Q-budgeting on an identified worst case path. The above technique provides an efficient tool for topological design and network performance engineering. Accurate simulation models are presented for each of the performance impairments, and the computer simulation methodology is used for the design and engineering of a number of actual metro network architectures     

Systematic characterization of Cl2 reactive ion etchingfor improved ohmics in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs

Pre-metal-deposition reactive ion etching (RIE) was performed on an Al_0.3Ga_0.7N/AlN/GaN heterostructure in order to improve the metal-to-semiconductor contact resistance. An optimum AlGaN thickness for minimizing contact resistance was determined. An initial decrease in contact resistance with etching time was explained in terms of removal of an oxide surface layer and/or by an increase in tunnelling current with the decrease of the AlGaN thickness. The presence of a dissimilar surface layer was confirmed by an initial nonuniform etch depth rate. An increase in contact resistance for deeper etches was experienced. The increase was related to depletion of the two-dimensional (2-D) electron gas (2-DEG) under the ohmics. Etch depths were measured by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The contact resistance decreased from about 0.45 Ωmm for unetched ohmics to a minimum of 0.27 Ωmm for 70 Å etched ohmics. The initial thickness of the AlGaN layer was 250 Å. The decrease in contact resistance, without excessive complications on device processing, supports RIE etching as a viable solution to improve ohmic contact resistance in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs     

Security issues for downloaded code in mobile phones

'Software defined radio' (SDR) is a technology that will appear in future generations of mobile phones, i.e. following the third-generation mobile phone technology that is currently being defined and developed. Early versions of 'pragmatic' SDR will allow the terminal to be reconfigured at any level of its protocol stack. Ultimately, the 'pure' SDR technology will allow a mobile phone or terminal to have its air interface software configured or reconfigured by other software (or software parameters) that have been downloaded to the terminal, e.g. over the air, or from a remote server via the Internet and one's personal computer (PC). A number of security issues arise with downloaded code that implements the air interface functions, and these may not be obvious simply from looking at the way PC software is updated on-line today. This paper starts with an outline of the code that allows a mobile phone to operate over a particular air interface. This sets the baseline for a discussion of the security issues surrounding the change of this code from one that is fixed and downloaded once only, to code that is reconfigurable during the life of a product.