A Semantic Future for AI

Computing must become much more human centered--for example, by presenting personalized information to users and by respecting personal preferences when controlling multiple devices or invoking various services. Appropriate representation of the information's semantics and of the functionality of devices and services will be critical to such personalized computing. Symbolic artificial intelligence techniques provide the method of choice for the required semantic-representation and reasoning capabilities.     

Ceric-induced grafting of ethyl-acrylate onto sodium alginate

Sodium alginate was graft-copolymerized with ethyl acrylate using ceric ammonium nitrate as an initiator. In order to optimize the conditions for grafting, the concentrations of nitric acid, initiator and monomer together with temperature, time and amount of substrate were varied. The kinetic scheme of free radical graft copolymerization has been proposed and the equations relating the values of rate of polymerization, rate of graft copolymerization and rate of homopolymerization are also suggested. The experimental results agree very well with the proposed kinetic scheme.     

An intelligent hybrid approach for hepatitis disease diagnosis: Combining enhanced k‐means clustering and improved ensemble learning

In real world, the automatic detection of liver disease is a challenging problem among medical practitioners. The intent of this work is to propose an intelligent hybrid approach for the diagnosis of hepatitis disease. The diagnosis is performed with the combination of k‐means clustering and improved ensemble‐driven learning. To avoid clinical experience and to reduce the evaluation time, ensemble learning is deployed, which constructs a set of hypotheses by using multiple learners to solve a liver disease problem. The performance analysis of the proposed integrated hybrid system is compared in terms of accuracy, true positive rate, precision, f‐measure, kappa statistic, mean absolute error, and root mean squared error. Simulation results showed that the enhanced k‐means clustering and improved ensemble learning with enhanced adaptive boosting, bagged decision tree, and J48 decision tree‐based intelligent hybrid approach achieved better prediction outcomes than other existing individual and integrated methods.     

Effect of Prior Oxidation on Tensile Properties of Bare and Al3Ti Diffusion Aluminide Coated Near α Titanium Alloy Titan 29A

The effect of prior oxidation, for various durations up to 2,000 h in air at 650 °C, on the room temperature tensile properties of uncoated and Al₃Ti diffusion aluminide coated near α Ti alloy, Titan 29A, has been evaluated. The tensile properties of the uncoated alloy deteriorated with oxidation. Oxidation for just 100 h caused 11–13 % decrease in yield strength (YS) and ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of the alloy. The uncoated alloy exhibited brittle fracture within the elastic regime at significantly lower stress after oxidation for 2,000 h. On the other hand, the strength of the coated alloy remained unaffected even after 2,000 h of oxidation and the YS and UTS was similar to that of the un-oxidized alloy. The ductility of the coated alloy, however, decreased with the increase in oxidation duration. Such differences in the tensile behavior of the uncoated and coated alloy can be ascribed to the beneficial effect of the Al₃Ti diffusion aluminide coating in preventing surface embrittlement in the alloy during oxidation.     

Effects of Reaction Medium on Grafting of Acrylonitrile Onto Sodium Salt of Partially Carboxymethylated Amylose

The grafting of acrylonitrile (AN) onto sodium salt of partially carboxymethylated amylose (Na-PCMA) using ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) as an initiator has been studied in water/solvent mixtures. The solvents used include methanol, ethanol, propanol, butanol, acetone and carbon tetrachloride. The results have been discussed. The effect of reaction medium on the molecular weight of grafted PAN has also been studied. The chain transfer constants (C_s) for solvents like methanol, ethanol, propanol, butanol, acetone and carbon tetrachloride have been evaluated at 30°C by the help of Mayo's equation.     

The impact of a conceptual solar thermal electric conversion plant on regional meteorological conditions: A numerical study

A two-dimensional, mesoscale model of the atmosphere that incorporates hydrodynamic, thermodynamic, and microphysical processes has been applied to simulate the impact on regional weather of a solar thermal electric conversion (STEC) installation in southern Spain. The STEC plant is conceptualized to occupy an area of 1,000 km² with heliostats covering 25 per cent of the total power plant area. It is assumed to use wet natural draft cooling towers for dissipating waste heat into the atmosphere.The 2-D model is applied to a STEC facility that covers a distance of 32 km in the horizontal with heliostats installed in the middle over a distance of 8 km. The model has been integrated for 9 hr of real time for both typical summer and winter conditions.The results of integration for summer indicate that a STEC installation of the above size has considerable potential for modifying regional weather. Clouds formed after 5 hr of real-time integration and persisted until the end of the integration; rainfall also occurred. In contrast, clouds did not form until 7 hr of real-time integration without the installation and were more sporadic and transient; rainfall was much less.The results for winter conditions do not show any cloud formation after 9 hr of real-time integration. This difference between summer and winter cases is attributed to the very strong winds used as initial conditions for the winter simulation.     

Evaluation of various integration algorithms for transient inelastic response of shear walls

Inelastic dynamic response of building walls made of reinforced concrete is considered by using various explicit and implicit algorithms. The numerical examples show the computational efficiency of algorithms for different low and high walls.     

Microwave-assisted sintering and improved dielectric,ferroelectric properties of 0.5[(Ba0.7Ca0.3)TiO3]–0.5[Ba(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3] lead-free ceramics

0.5[(Ba_0.7Ca_0.3)TiO₃]–0.5[Ba(Zr_0.2Ti_0.8)O₃] lead-free ceramics were synthesised by coprecipitation method and sintered by fast microwave sintering (MWS) and by conventional sintering (CS) at 1200°C. After being sintered with the two different methods, the materials were characterised for structural, microstructural, frequency and temperature-dependent dielectric properties, Raman spectroscopy, and ferroelectric measurements. Results are compared and discussed in the present paper. X-ray diffraction confirms the presence of the tetragonal and rhombohedral phases in the composites sintered by both methods. The ferroelectric to paraelectric transition temperature (Tc) is increased in microwave-sintered composite. Diffuse constant (γ) values show BCT–BZT ceramics to be neither normal ferroelectrics nor relaxor ferroelectrics. Raman spectra confirm phase transition in the ceramic samples. Saturation polarisation (Ps) values are 7.62 and 4.28?µC?cm^?2 and nearly equal remanant polarisation (Pr) values were observed for BCT–BZT composite sintered with MWS and CS, respectively.     

Single-step hydrothermal synthesis of WO3-MnO2 composite as an active material for all-solid-state flexible asymmetric supercapacitor

In present study, new strategy is employed to build composite nanostructure and asymmetric configuration to enhance the capacitive performance of supercapacitor device. The WO₃-MnO₂ composite with mesoporous structure is prepared by single-step hydrothermal method and used to gain superior electrochemical performance in asymmetric configuration. A binder-free and additive-less WO₃-MnO₂ composite electrode exhibits high specific capacitance of 609 F g^?1 at a scan rate of 5 mV s^?1. The flexible asymmetric supercapacitor device with WO₃-MnO₂ as a positive electrode and WO₃ as a negative electrode demonstrates stable operating potential window of 1.4 V with specific capacitance of 103 F g^?1 at a scan rate of 5 mV s^?1 and energy density of 24.13 Wh kg^?1 at power density of 915 W kg^?1. Furthermore, WO₃-MnO₂//WO₃ device exhibits good cycle life with capacity retention of 95% after 2500 cycles and excellent mechanical flexibility. These results reveal the potential of WO₃-MnO₂ composite electrode for fabrication of high-performance supercapacitors.