EXPLOITING CAUSAL STRUCTURE TO CONTROL RETRIEVAL AND REFITTING DURING PLAN REUSE

The ability to reuse existing plans to solve new planning problems can enable a domain-independent planner to improve its average case efficiency by exploiting the problem distribution and avoiding repetition of planning effort. The pay-off from plan reuse, however, crucially depends on finding effective solutions to two important underlying control problems: (i) controlling the retrieval of an appropriate plan and mapping to be reused in a new situation, and (ii) controlling the modification (refitting) of the retrieved plan so as to minimize perturbation to the applicable parts of the plan. This paper is concerned with the development of efficient domain-independent solutions to these two problems. For the retrieval, it provides a domain independent similarity metric that utilizes the plan causal dependency structure to estimate the utility of reusing a given plan in a new problem situation. For the refitting, it presents a minimum-conflict heuristic, again based on the causal dependency structure of the plan, to conservatively control the modification. The paper also discusses the implementation and evaluation of these strategies within the PRIAR plan modification framework.     

Synthesis of (R,S)-muscone from 10-undecenoic acid

Muscone (3-methylcyclopentadecanone) is a major macrocyclic ketone found in the solid secretion, commonly known as musk, from the pouch ofMoschus moschiferus. Herein, we report its synthesis from 10-undecenoic acid, which is the major product of castor oil pyrolysis. Methyl 14-oxotetradecanoate was prepared by radical addition of methyl 10-undecenoate to acrolein. The terminal oxo group was protected as an acetal, and the ester group was treated with the anion of dimethyl methylphosphonate (CH₃-(O)P(OMe)₂, DMMP) to give 2-(15-dimethoxyphosphynil-14-oxo-pentadecane)-1,3-dioxolane. The acetal protection was removed and the Emmons-Horner reaction was carried out in K₂CO₃-t-butanol to give 2-cyclopenta-decenone. The addition of MeMgI in the presence of Cu₂Cl₂ gave muscone. IICT Communication No. 2930.     

Scaling relations for the performance of passive systems

From the correlation curves of the monthly solar heating fraction (SHF) as a function of monthly solar load ratio (SLR) for six different passive systems, it is empirically demonstrated that the annual SHF is well correlated with January SHF; this correlation is essentially independent of the passive type but dependent on location (climate). It is then shown mathematically that this is equivalent to the following scaling relation: the monthly SHF as a function of the monthly SLR is the same for all passive systems up to a scale factor of SLR. This scale factor depends on the passive system and has important physical relevance. The approximate validity of this scaling law is discussed. The simplification of performance prediction resulting from such a scaling law, as well as from the correlation of annual versus January performances, is pointed out.     

Direct three dimensional tomography of flames using maximization of entropy technique

Presently, there are numerous applications for non-destructive techniques like emission tomography, laser based methods and particle image velocimetry that are used to study flame characteristics. Reconstruction of the flame intensity field using emission tomography has the advantage over other technologies that it gives accurate results but at the same time requires relatively inexpensive equipment, and therefore, has numerous industrial applications. In the present paper, a new algorithm performing Direct-3D reconstruction using the maximization of entropy (MENT) methodology has been introduced. Through detailed studies using a mathematical object, it has been shown that the Direct-3D algorithm shows significantly reduced errors as compared to 2D slice-by-slice reconstruction algorithms. Secondly, the major features of the proposed algorithm, for e.g., effect of orientation, effect of number of views, and robustness have been discussed. Finally, a few qualitative results from actual flames have been presented using a candle and a gas fired burner, and the results match well with the actual flame geometry and intensity distribution.     

Synthesis of 18-octadecanolide,a major constituent of dufour’s gland secretion ofColletes bees

18-Octadecanolide, a major constituent of Dufour’s gland secretion ofColletes bees, was synthesized by polymerization followed by depolymerization of 18-hydroxyoctadecanoic acid which in turn was obtained by hydrogenation of kamlolenic acid (18-hydroxy, 9-cis, 11-trans, 13-trans-octadecatrienoic acid) isolated fromMallotus philippinensis seed oil. The structures of the intermediates as well as the final lactone were established by infrared, proton nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometric methods.     

Performance Analysis of Modulation Recognition in Multipath Fading Channels using Pattern Recognition Classifiers

Wireless Personal Communications - Implementation of adaptive modulation techniques based on the channel conditions play a key role in future wireless applications. Due to these adaptive...     

Granulation time in fluidized bed granulators

Size enlargement of particles in fluidized bed granulation involves mixing of particles with a binder liquid to form larger wet granules and drying them to form dry granules. Identification of the time for completion of granulation process is critical as further fluidization of dry granules is providing extra energy for their attrition. Monitoring the bed pressure drop and bed temperature of a batch fluidized bed granulator with time can provide information on the time for completion of the granulation process. Experimental observations on granulation time and size of granules in a lab-scale batch fluidized bed granulator are presented. Model based equations are developed for the estimation of granulation time and size of granules.     

Sequential addition of temperature-sensitive missense mutations into the PB2 gene of influenza A transfectant viruses can effect an increase in temperature sensitivity and attenuation and permits the rational design of a genetically engineered live influenza A virus vaccine

We have previously described a strategy for the recovery of a synthetic influenza A virus wild-type (wt) PB2 gene (derived from influenza A/Ann Arbor/6/60 [AA] virus) into an infectious virus. It was possible to introduce an attenuating temperature-sensitive (ts) mutation at amino acid residue 265 of the AA wt PB2 gene and to rescue this mutant gene into infectious virus. Application of this new technology to influenza A virus vaccine development requires that multiple attenuating mutations be introduced to achieve a satisfactorily attenuated virus that retains the attenuation (att) phenotype following replication in vivo. In this report, we demonstrate that putative ts mutations at amino acids 112, 556, and 658 each indeed specify the ts and att phenotypes. Each of these mutations was introduced into a cDNA copy of the AA mutant mt265 PB2 gene to produce three double-mutant PB2 genes, each of which was rescued into an infectious virus. In general, the double-mutant PB2 transfectant viruses were more ts and attenuated in the lower respiratory tracts of hamsters than the single-mutant transfectant viruses, and the ts phenotype of two of three double-mutant PB2 transfectant viruses was stable even after prolonged replication in the upper respiratory tracts of immunocompromised mice. Two triple-mutant PB2 transfectant viruses with three predicted amino acid substitutions resulting from five nucleotide substitutions in the cDNA were then generated. The triple-mutant PB2 transfectant viruses were more ts and more attenuated than the double-mutant PB2 transfectant viruses. These results indicate that sequential introduction of additional ts mutations into the PB2 gene can yield mutants that exhibit a stepwise increase in temperature sensitivity and attenuation compared with the preceding mutant(s) in the series. Furthermore, the level of temperature sensitivity of the transfectant viruses correlated significantly with the level of attenuation of these viruses in hamsters. Although the triple-mutant PB2 transfectant viruses were attenuated in hamsters, intranasal administration of these viruses elicited a vigorous serum hemagglutination-inhibiting antibody response, and this was associated with resistance of the lower respiratory tract to subsequent wt virus challenge. These observations suggest the feasibility of using PB2 reverse genetics to generate a live influenza A virus vaccine donor strain that contains three attenuating mutations in one gene. It is predicted that reassortant viruses derived from such a donor virus would have the properties of attenuation, genetic stability, immunogenicity, and protective efficacy against challenge with wt virus.     

Performance of iterative tomographic algorithms applied to non-destructive evaluation with limited data

Iterative tomographic algorithms have been applied to the reconstruction of a two-dimensional object with internal defects from its projections. Nine distinct algorithms with varying numbers of projections and projection angles have been considered. Each projection of the solid object is interpreted as a path integral of the light-sensitive property of the object in the appropriate direction. The integrals are evaluated numerically and are assumed to represent exact data. Errors in reconstruction are defined as the statistics of difference between original and reconstructed objects and are used to compare one algorithm with respect to another. The algorithms used in this work can be classified broadly into three groups, namely the additive algebraic reconstruction technique (ART), the multiplicative algebraic reconstruction technique (MART) and the maximization reconstruction technique (MRT). Additive ART shows a systematic convergence with respect to the number of projections and the value of the relaxation parameter. MART algorithms produce less error at convergence compared to additive ART but converge only at small values of the relaxation parameter. The MRT algorithm shows an intermediate performance when compared to ART and MART. An increasing noise level in the projection data increases the error in the reconstructed field. The maximum and RMS errors are highest in ART and lowest in MART for given projection data. Increasing noise levels in the projection data decrease the convergence rates. For all algorithms, a 20% noise level is seen as an upper limit, beyond which the reconstructed field is barely recognizable.