Vitamin C Spray Drying: Study of the Thermal Constraint

Temperature variation in the spray drying method has no effect on the ascorbic acid molecule. No chemical interaction between the colloidal silica and the ascorbic acid could be determined, but a physicochemical interaction “absorption” was determined. Colloidal silica improved the final yield of spray drying in proportion to its concentration. No polymorphic forms could be determined in the spray-dried ascorbic acid. Drug release from the ascorbic acid spray dried was found to be dependent on the Aerosil content: highest release rates were obtained with Aerosil.     

Development of manufacturing control strategies using unsupervised machine learning

This research considers the control of manufacturing systems that support job routing and process sequence flexibility. A machine learning system is presented that uses a simulation model of the target manufacturing system to discover opportunistic control rules. Learning is unsupervised and is driven by a genetic algorithm. The learning method requires very little a priori control knowledge. For this presentation, the decision-making agents are the part types being processed. Part types evolve cooperative strategies for selecting the best route through the manufacturing system based on simulated real-time information that describes the state of the system. Results are presented that demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach.     

Thinking in Different Ways to Combine Fusion with Fission

The common goal of CTR, but in particular of ICF, is low yield-high gain. Fission triggered large TN explosive devices meet the second but not the first of these conditions. These devices depend on the rare isotopes U235, Pu239, or U233, but for them the fusion energy output greatly exceeds the output from fission, limiting the fallout. In thinking about different ways to combine fusion with fission, there are three questions: (1) Are there ways where both conditions can be met, and where the fallout from fission is small? (2) Can the conditions be met without the use of U235, Pu239, or U233, but with U238, Th232, and perhaps with the fission of light nuclei like B10 or Li6, the latter having no fallout? (3) Are there concepts for MF, combining fusion with fission, without U235, Pu239 or U233? In my talk I will present reasons why under the above stated conditions two things seem to be possible: (1) The greatly facilitated fast ignition of thermonuclear microexplosions with a small amount of U238 or Th232. (2) The greatly enhanced pulsed MF burn aided by the fission of light nuclei such as B10, but also of the U238 and Th232 and with a neutron moderator. In either one of these cases the burn is “autocatalytic” in the sense that neutron-induced nuclear reactions in a halo surrounding the fusion plasma drive thermomagnetic currents compressing and increasing its neutron production rate.     

The simulation of spin glass model of neural networks by the Wang-Landau algorithm

In the present work, the Hopfield neural network model with infinite-range interactions was simulated by using the Wang-Landau algorithm. All simulations and measurements were done in the replica symmetric and broken regions of the model with discrete ?1 values of random variables. The physical quantities such as energy density, specific heat were evaluated at all temperatures. Our results are in good agreement with the replica symmetric mean field solutions.     

V-Si-Sb phase diagram. Isothermal section at 1070 K

The interaction of components in the V-Si-Sb system is examined at 0.7 mole% Sb using an x-ray analysis. An isothermal section of the phase diagram is constructed at 1070 K. The existence of V₄SiSb₂ with the W₅Si₃-type structure is not confirmed. Based on VSi₂ (CrSi₂ structure type), V₅Si₃ (W₅Si₃), VSb₂ (CuAl₂), VSb (NiAs) compounds, terminal solid solutions are formed. Their solubility is lower than 0.05 mole% of the third component. A continuous series of solid solutions exists between V₃Si and V₃Sb (Cr₃Si). The interaction of components in related systems is analyzed.     

Classroom Presenter: Enhancing Interactive Education with Digital Ink

Classroom Presenter is a Tablet PC-based interaction system that supports the sharing of digital ink on slides between instructors and students. Initial deployments show that using the technology can achieve a wide range of educational goals and foster a more participatory classroom environment.     

Pulse control problems under ellipsoidal constraints: Constraint parameters sensitivity

Consideration is given to pulse control problems for the tube of trajectories of the linear differential system under incomplete information on the initial data. Apart from the ordinary requirement for boundedness of variation, a special constraint of the ellipsoidal type is imposed on control actions; at this constraint, vectors of jumps of generalized controls belong to the specified ellipsoid of the corresponding finite-dimensional space. The dependence of the variation of optimal pulse control that solves the control problem for the tube of trajectories on parameters of the ellipsoidal constraint on admissible controls is studied.     

Intrinsic Motivation Systems for Autonomous Mental Development

Exploratory activities seem to be intrinsically rewarding for children and crucial for their cognitive development. Can a machine be endowed with such an intrinsic motivation system? This is the question we study in this paper, presenting a number of computational systems that try to capture this drive towards novel or curious situations. After discussing related research coming from developmental psychology, neuroscience, developmental robotics, and active learning, this paper presents the mechanism of Intelligent Adaptive Curiosity, an intrinsic motivation system which pushes a robot towards situations in which it maximizes its learning progress. This drive makes the robot focus on situations which are neither too predictable nor too unpredictable, thus permitting autonomous mental development. The complexity of the robot's activities autonomously increases and complex developmental sequences self-organize without being constructed in a supervised manner. Two experiments are presented illustrating the stage-like organization emerging with this mechanism. In one of them, a physical robot is placed on a baby play mat with objects that it can learn to manipulate. Experimental results show that the robot first spends time in situations which are easy to learn, then shifts its attention progressively to situations of increasing difficulty, avoiding situations in which nothing can be learned. Finally, these various results are discussed in relation to more complex forms of behavioral organization and data coming from developmental psychology     

On Synchronous Robotic Networks—Part II: Time Complexity of Rendezvous and Deployment Algorithms

This paper analyzes a number of basic coordination algorithms running on synchronous robotic networks. We provide upper and lower bounds on the time complexity of the move-toward-average and circumcenter laws, both achieving rendezvous, and of the centroid law, achieving deployment over a region of interest. The results are derived via novel analysis methods, including a set of results on the convergence rates of linear dynamical systems defined by tridiagonal Toeplitz and circulant matrices.