A knowledge assimilation method for logic databases

In this paper we consider a deductive question-answering system for relational databases as a logic database system, and propose a knowledge assimilation method suitable for such a system. The concept of knowledge assimilation for deductive logic is constructed in an implementable form based on the notion of amalgamating object language and metalanguage. This concept calls for checks to be conducted on four subconcepts, provability, contradiction, redundancy, independency, and their corresponding internal database updates. We have implemented this logic database knowledge assimilation program in PROLOG, a logic programming language, and have found PROLOG suitable for knowledge assimilation implementation.     

Object oriented programming in Concurrent Prolog

It is shown that the basic operations of object-oriented programming languages — creating an, object, sending and receiving messages, modifying an object’s state, and forming class-superclass hierarchies — can be implemented naturally in Concurrent Prolog. In addition, a new object-oriented programming paradigm, called incomplete messages, is presented. This paradigm subsumes stream communication, and greatly simplifies the complexity of programs defining communication networks and protocols for managing shared resources. Several interesting programs are presented, including a multiple-window manager. All programs have been developed and tested using the Concurrent Prolog interpreter described in.¹⁾     

Flood Management in Japan—From Rivers to Basins

Abstract

The River Commission of the Ministry of Construction in Japan recommended a basin response to floods in its December 2000 Interim Report to Minister of Construction. This is practically an official declaration of the policy accepting inundation in habited areas. By this policy shift, it is anticipated that more basin response measures and non-structural measures against floods will be promoted to complement structural measures such as continuous levees and dams. Such a policy is not new in the world but is a significant governmental move in Japan, a densely populated, highly developed, and highly flood hazardous country. Although living with floods is a universal coping strategy, the implementation of measures should be different from region to region reflecting region's nature and socio-economic conditions. This paper reviews the flood fighting history of Japan and her statutory evolution against floods and shows the process by which the ever-increasing flood damage potential and the recent increase of flood damages necessitated the official move in flood control management from rivers to basins.     

薄壁曲线箱梁材料非线性分析的内力塑性系数法

目的 研究薄壁曲线箱梁考虑剪力滞效应和材料非线性的计算方法.方法 基于势能变分原理,推导了薄壁曲线箱梁的刚度方程.采用变刚度初法应力法,并结合截面内力塑性系数修正刚度系数,对薄壁曲线箱梁的材料非线性问题进行了求解.结果 通过算例计算,得到了曲线箱梁顶底板的应力分布以及挠度和扭转角的变化曲线.结论 笔者的计算结果与试验值整体吻合较好.对于薄壁曲线箱梁,悬臂板、顶板和底板,分别取三个不同的剪力滞翘曲位移函数的结果,精度优于三者取一个统一的剪力滞翘曲位移函数;随荷载的增加,弯曲剪力滞效应系数较挠度和扭转角更早进入非线性状态,翼缘截面上的应力分布逐渐趋于均匀,上翼缘应力的这种变化趋势要略滞后于下翼缘,而中支座截面翼缘应力的这种变化趋势则略快于左跨跨中和右跨跨中截面.     

基于6-DOF解耦操作臂的空间遥操作控制及运动学分析

针对由6-DOF解耦操作臂及其末端手爪组成的操作臂系统,设计了符合工程实际的遥操作控制策略,并提出了一种简单的运动学解算方法.采用Motoman工业操作臂,对提出的方法进行了实验验证.实验结果证明了所提方法的可行性.     

Agglomeration control of hydroxyapatite nano-crystals grown in phase-separated microenvironments

Materials synthesis processes that require high temperatures consume large quantities of energy that generate an environmental burden. We attempted to synthesize hydroxyapatite (HAp) nano-crystals without firing or melting. “Water in oil” (W/O) emulsions were employed as microreactors for HAp formation. The surfactant-bounded water mediated HAp crystal nucleation, and HAp nano-crystallites were obtained. The obtained particles were aggregates composed of plate-like nano-crystals and monodisperse tiny crystals. Utilization of the W/O emulsions resulted in tunable nucleation frequency and the reactant provision, and yielded HAp nano-crystals with characteristic agglomeration properties.     

Surface modification of biodegradable plastics by ion beams

Biodegradable plastics can be used as conventional plastics, while on disposal they decompose to water and carbon dioxide by microorganisms existing in natural environment. Products using biodegradable plastics have recently been developed in many companies pursuing ecology. In this study, surface modification of biodegradable plastics was carried out by inert ion beams for improvement of photo deterioration under an ultraviolet ray. The hardness of biodegradable plastics tended generally to decrease with irradiation of an ultraviolet ray. In this method, the hardness of ion-bombarded biodegradable plastics was kept at an initial value under an ultraviolet ray, because the modified layer by ion bombardment intercepted an ultraviolet ray. The hardness of He⁺ ion-bombarded biodegradable plastics showed larger value than that of Ar⁺ ion bombardment. He⁺ ion bombardment at ion energy of 10 keV produced the suitable property with both of high transmittance of a visible ray and high interception of an ultraviolet ray in a surface layer of biodegradable plastics.     

First principles total energy studies of the adsorption of germane on Ge(001)-c(2 × 4)

We perform first principles total energy calculations to study the energetics, and the atomic structure of the adsorption of germane (GeH₄) molecules on the Ge(001)-c(2 × 4) surface. The adsorption of a GeH₄ unit occurs after its dissociation into a germanium trihydride (GeH₃) and a hydrogen atom and a subsequent decomposition into a germanium dihydride (GeH₂) subunit and H atoms. Consequently, we first consider the adsorption of GeH₂ in two different configurations; the on-dimer and the intra-row geometries. Similar to the adsorption of SiH₂ and GeH₂ on Si(001), it is found that the on-dimer site is more stable than the intra-row geometry by 0.13 eV. However, in the adsorption of a GeH₂ fragment together with two H atoms we find that the intra-row geometry is energetically more favorable, again, similar to the adsorption of SiH₂ and GeH₂ (plus two H atoms) on the Si(001) surface.     

Efficient distribution-free population learning of simple concepts

We consider a variant of the ‘population learning model’ proposed by Kearns and Seung [8], in which the learner is required to be ‘distribution-free’ as well as computationally efficient. A population learner receives as input hypotheses from a large population of agents and produces as output its final hypothesis. Each agent is assumed to independently obtain labeled sample for the target concept and output a hypothesis. A polynomial time population learner is said to PAC-learn a concept class, if its hypothesis is probably approximately correct whenever the population size exceeds a certain bound which is polynomial, even if the sample size for each agent is fixed at some constant. We exhibit some general population learning strategies, and some simple concept classes that can be learned by them. These strategies include the ‘supremum hypothesis finder’, the ‘minimum superset finder’ (a special case of the ‘supremum hypothesis finder’), and various voting schemes. When coupled with appropriate agent algorithms, these strategies can learn a variety of simple concept classes, such as the ‘high–low game’, conjunctions, axis-parallel rectangles and others. We give upper bounds on the required population size for each of these cases, and show that these systems can be used to obtain a speed up from the ordinary PAC-learning model [11], with appropriate choices of sample and population sizes. With the population learner restricted to be a voting scheme, what we have is effectively a model of ‘population prediction’, in which the learner is to predict the value of the target concept at an arbitrarily drawn point, as a threshold function of the predictions made by its agents on the same point. We show that the population learning model is strictly more powerful than the population prediction model. Finally, we consider a variant of this model with classification noise, and exhibit a population learner for the class of conjunctions in this model. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.