Improving the Behavior of Intelligent Tutoring Agents with Data Mining

This article presents a novel framework for adapting the behavior of intelligent agents. The framework consists of an extended sequential pattern mining algorithm that, in combination with association rule discovery techniques, is used to extract temporal patterns and relationships from the behavior of human agents executing a procedural task. The proposed framework has been integrated within the CanadarmTutor, an intelligent tutoring agent aimed at helping students solve procedural problems that involve moving a robotic arm in a complex virtual environment. We present the results of an evaluation that demonstrates the benefits of this integration to agents acting in ill-defined domains.     

Proteomic Helicobacter pylori biomarkers discriminative of low-grade gastric MALT lymphoma and duodenal ulcer

To date no reliable diagnostic method exists to predict, among the very large and clinically heterogeneous group of Helicobacter pylori‐infected patients, the extremely small group at risk for developing low‐grade gastric MALT lymphoma (LG‐MALT). Search of proteomic biomarkers holds promise for the classification of the H. pylori strains with regard to this severe clinical outcome. In the present study 69 H. pylori strains isolated from patients with two different H. pylori‐associated diseases, duodenal ulcer (DU, n=29) and LG‐MALT (n=40) were used. Protein expression patterns of the strains were analyzed by using the high‐throughput methodology SELDI. Selected proteins were purified by means of chromatographic and electrophoretic methods in view of further sequencing by LC‐MS/MS. Univariate analysis (Mann–Whitney test) of the protein expression patterns generated nine significant biomarkers that can discriminate between H. pylori strains from patients with DU and LG‐MALT. These biomarkers are of low molecular weight, ranging from 6 to 26.6 kDa. Among them, two are overexpressed in LG‐MALT strains and seven – in DU strains. Two biomarker proteins, one overexpressed in LG‐MALT strains (13.2 kDa) and another one – overexpressed in DU strains (26.6 kDa), were purified to homogeneity and identified by using LC‐MS/MS as a 50S ribosomal protein L7/L12 and a urease subunit, respectively. These biomarkers can be included in novel protein arrays for the differential diagnosis of H. pylori‐associated clinical outcomes.     

Exciton Formation Dynamics and Band-Like Free Charge-Carrier Transport in 2D Metal Halide Perovskite Semiconductors

Metal halide perovskite (MHP) semiconductors have driven a revolution in optoelectronic technologies over the last decade, in particular for high-efficiency photovoltaic applications. Low-dimensional MHPs presenting electronic confinement have promising additional prospects in light emission and quantum technologies. However, the optimisation of such applications requires a comprehensive understanding of the nature of charge carriers and their transport mechanisms. This study employs a combination of ultrafast optical and terahertz spectroscopy to investigate phonon energies, charge-carrier mobilities, and exciton formation in 2D (PEA)₂PbI₄ and (BA)₂PbI₄ (where PEA is phenylethylammonium and BA is butylammonium). Temperature-dependent measurements of free charge-carrier mobilities reveal band transport in these strongly confined semiconductors, with surprisingly high in-plane mobilities. Enhanced charge-phonon coupling is shown to reduce charge-carrier mobilities in (BA)₂PbI₄ with respect to (PEA)₂PbI₄. Exciton and free charge-carrier dynamics are disentangled by simultaneous monitoring of transient absorption and THz photoconductivity. A sustained free charge-carrier population is observed, surpassing the Saha equation predictions even at low temperature. These findings provide new insights into the temperature-dependent interplay of exciton and free-carrier populations in 2D MHPs. Furthermore, such sustained free charge-carrier population and high mobilities demonstrate the potential of these semiconductors for applications such as solar cells, transistors, and electrically driven light sources.     

Energy Efficient Hardware Loop Based Optimization for CGRAs

Journal of Signal Processing Systems - Research interest and industry investment in edge computing solutions have increased dramatically in recent years. Consequent quest for balanced performance,...     

3D Orientational Control in Self‐Assembled Thin Films with Sub‐5 nm Features by Light

While self‐assembled molecular building blocks could lead to many next‐generation functional organic nanomaterials, control over the thin‐film morphologies to yield monolithic sub‐5 nm patterns with 3D orientational control at macroscopic length scales remains a grand challenge. A series of photoresponsive hybrid oligo(dimethylsiloxane) liquid crystals that form periodic cylindrical nanostructures with periodicities between 3.8 and 5.1 nm is studied. The liquid crystals can be aligned in‐plane by exposure to actinic linearly polarized light and out‐of‐plane by exposure to actinic unpolarized light. The photoalignment is most efficient when performed just under the clearing point of the liquid crystal, at which the cylindrical nanostructures are reoriented within minutes. These results allow the generation of highly ordered sub‐5 nm patterns in thin films at macroscopic length scales, with control over the orientation in a noncontact fashion.     

Growth and optical properties of In x Ga1−x P nanowires synthesized by selective-area epitaxy

Ternary Ⅲ-Ⅴ nanowires (NWs) cover a wide range of wavelengths in the solar spectrum and would greatly benefit from being synthesized as position-controlled arrays for improved vertical yield,reprodudbility,and tunable optical absorption.Here,we report on successful selective-area epitaxy of metal-particle-free vertical InxGa1-xP NW arrays using metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy and detail their optical properties.A systematic growth study establishes the range of suitable growth parameters to obtain uniform NW growth over a large array.The optical properties of the NWs were characterized by room-temperature cathodoluminescence spectroscopy.Tunability of the emission wavelength from 870 nm to approximately 800 nm was achieved.Transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray measurements performed on crosssection samples revealed a pure wurtzite crystal structure with very few stacking faults and a slight composition gradient along the NW growth axis.     

CUSUM Control Charts for the Monitoring of Zero‐inflated Binomial Processes

Zero‐inflated probability models are used to model count data that have an excessive number of zeros. These models are mostly useful in modeling high‐yield or health‐related processes. The zero‐inflated binomial distribution is an extension of the ordinary binomial distribution that takes into account the excess of zeros. In this paper, one‐sided cumulative sum (CUSUM)‐type control charts are proposed for monitoring increases or decreases in the parameter p of a zero‐inflated binomial process. The results of an extensive numerical study concerning the statistical design of the proposed schemes as well as their practical implementation are provided. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Monitoring the Ratio of Two Normal Variables Using EWMA Type Control Charts

In many fields, there is the need to monitor quality characteristics defined as the ratio of two random variables. The design and implementation of control charts directly monitoring the ratio stability is required for the continuous surveillance of these quality characteristics. In this paper, we propose two one‐sided exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) charts with subgroups having sample size n > 1 to monitor the ratio of two normal random variables. The optimal EWMA smoothing constants, control limits, and ARLs have been computed for different values of the in‐control ratio and correlation between the variables and are shown in several figures and tables to discuss the statistical performance of the proposed one‐sided EWMA charts. Both deterministic and random shift sizes have been considered to test the two one‐sided EWMA charts' sensitivity. The obtained results show that the proposed one‐sided EWMA control charts are more sensitive to process shifts than other charts already proposed in the literature. The practical application of the proposed control schemes is discussed with an illustrative example. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Monitoring the Coefficient of Variation Using the Side Sensitive Group Runs Chart

Many quality characteristics have means and standard deviations that are not independent. Instead, the standard deviations of these quality characteristics are proportional to their corresponding means. Thus, monitoring the coefficient of variation (CV), for these quality characteristics, using a control chart has gained remarkable attention in recent years. This paper presents a side sensitive group runs chart for the CV (called the SSGR CV chart). The implementation and optimization procedures of the proposed chart are presented. Two optimization procedures are developed, i.e. (i) by minimizing the average run length (ARL) when the shift size is deterministic and (ii) by minimizing the expected average run length (EARL) when the shift size is unknown. An application of the SSGR CV chart using a real dataset is also demonstrated. Additionally, the SSGR CV chart is compared with the Shewhart CV, runs rules CV, synthetic CV and exponentially weighted moving average CV charts by means of ARLs and standard deviation of the run lengths. The performance comparison is also conducted using EARLs when the shift size is unknown. In general, the SSGR CV chart surpasses the other charts under comparison, for most upward and downward CV shifts. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.