ORDERING FUZZY SETS BY CONSENSUS CONCEPT AND FUZZY RELATION EQUATIONS

A general class of consensus measures of fuzzy sets is introduced in this paper. It is shown that, while the consensus measures are valuations but neither isotone nor antitone with respect to the lattice structure induced by the pointwise maximum and minimum operations to the set of all the fuzzy sets on a nonempty crisp set, they are antitone valuations with respect to the lattice structure induced by the generalized sharpening relation to a quotient set of the set of fuzzy sets. It is also shown that the solutions of a finite fuzzy relation equation that have the maximum consensus measure can be characterized through the join operation of the latter lattice in terms of the maximum solution and some of the minimal solutions of the equation.     

Planning tool requirements for flexible manufacturing: an analytical approach

The problem of tool and fixture resources dimensioning is considered and examined for a productive environment with flexible features. With reference to previous studies, different tool management strategies are pointed out and commented upon; a further control policy based on workpiece batching is suggested and tested. In the second section of the paper, an analytical interpretation of the question in hand is presented and discussed; the effectiveness of the procedure itself is tested by comparing analytical data with results derived from the detailed simulation of a real tool management area. Results are shown in the last section     

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE GOES MOBILE

New mobile computing technologies require new paradigms for infrastructure and interaction with mobile and networked devices. For building smart mobile companions for new intelligent services, a number of challenges have to be addressed. We argue that artificial intelligence is a key to a new generation of mobile systems. In this introduction to AI in mobile systems, we present some of the challenges and solutions in this exciting field of research.     

Fatty acid profile of milk from goats fed diets with different levels of conserved and fresh forages

Aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of different proportions of hay and fresh grass in goats’ diet on milk fatty acid profile. Nine Camosciata goats were fed a fixed amount of concentrate (30% of total diet) and different percentages (40% vs 30%, 50% vs 20% and 60% vs 10%) of hay and fresh grass, respectively. Diminishing amounts of fresh grass percentages in the diet led to significant increases of lauric, myristic and palmitic acids (P ≤ 0.001) and to significant decreases of C18:1 t6‐11, rumenic and α‐linolenic acids (P ≤ 0.001) in milk, thus determining a worsening of the health value of milk fat.     

AN EXPERT SYSTEM FOR ACADEMIC COUNSELING

In recent years, high enrollment has greatly increased the counseling loads of academic advisors at American colleges and universities. Expert systems can assist academic counselors by solving a relatively easy class of problems which deal with the most encountered cases. In this paper, a prototype expert system, CLASS COUNSELOR, is presented. CLASS COUNSELOR recommends a set of courses after an interactive session with the student. It handles the upper division courses of the undergraduate program in the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Florida. The program runs on IBM-AT personal computers and compatibles.     

Advanced spinning disk‐TIRF microscopy for faster imaging of the cell interior and the plasma membrane

Understanding the cellular processes that occur between the cytosol and the plasma membrane is an important task for biological research. Till now, however, it was not possible to combine fast and high‐resolution imaging of both the isolated plasma membrane and the surrounding intracellular volume. Here, we demonstrate the combination of fast high‐resolution spinning disk (SD) and total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy for specific imaging of the plasma membrane. A customised SD‐TIRF microscope was used with specific design of the light paths that allowed, for the first time, live SD‐TIRF experiments at high acquisition rates. A series of experiments is shown to demonstrate the feasibility and performance of our setup.     

Stochastic approximation and realization of Hankel matrices

Dynamic systems are considered whose outputs can be represented either by a deterministic series of the input variables or by a stochastic series of brownian motion processes. Approximate representations of such series are proposed. The representations are based on the Hankel matrix representation of the series. First, it is shown that any Hankel matrix, belonging to suitable classes, can be approximated in the deterministic and stochastic sense by finite rank Hankel matrices. Then, a method is proposed to design bilinear realizations of finite rank Hankel matrices, effective in the deterministic and stochastic sense.     

Matrix formulae for open and closed-loop approximate model matching in frequency domain

This paper concerns model matching of SISO systems in the frequency domain. The matching uses Pade coefficients and Markov parameters of a reference model of which the final system will be an approximation. Because the matching is approximate, constraints on the structures of both the reference model and the final system can be somewhat relaxed. In this paper an easy-to-implement matrix formulation is derived for both open- and closed-loop matching problems. Some results concerning pole-zero cancellations are presented, along with a number of numerical examples provided to illustrate the usefulness and simplicity of the approach.     

Splitting of some s-domain stability-test algorithms

Some classic s-domain algorithms are first expressed in a unified form. From this, all possible split forms are then derived and classified. In particular, attention is focused on two families of algorithms, which include the standard Routh algorithm and an s-domain Levinson-like algorithm respectively. The related split forms are analysed and compared. Their complexity can be reduced by suitably choosing some scaling factors. It turns out that the usual form of the Routh algorithm, which is intrinsically split, and the simplified version of the split Levinson-like algorithm are substantially equivalent and superior to any other possible split algorithm.     

LIQUID-LIQUID EQUILIBRIUM OF THE SYSTEM WATER-PHOSPHORIC ACID-DI-N-PROPYL ETHER AT 25 AND 40°C. INFLUENCE OF THE ISOMER PROPYL-ISOPROPYL ETHER ON THE APPEARANCE OF THREE LIQUID PHASES AT EQUILIBRIUM.

Solubility and liquid-liquid phase equilibrium data have been determined for the ternary systems Water-Phosphoric Acid-Di-n-propyl Ether as supplied by Merck (with about 6.4% of the isomer propyl-isopropyl ether), and Water-Phosphoric Acid-Di-n-propyl Ether (rectified up to less than 1% of propyl-isopropyl ether), at 25 and 40^°C The temperatures at which three liquid phases at equilibrium appeared were 28.0-28.2^°C and 49.0-50.0^°C, respectively. The presence of the isomer propyl-isopropyl ether causes these systems to split into three liquid phases at equilibrium