The Top-Down Strategy for Building EuroWordNet: Vocabulary Coverage, Base Concepts and Top Ontology

This paper describes two fundamental aspects in the process of building of the EuroWordNet database. In EuroWordNet we have chosen for a flexible design in which local wordnets are built relatively independently as language-specific structures, which are linked to an Inter-Lingual-Index (ILI). To ensure compatibility between the wordnets, a core set of common concepts has been defined that has to be covered by every language. Furthermore, these concepts have been classified via the ILI in terms of a Top Ontology of 63 fundamental semantic distinctions used in various semantic theories and paradigms. This paper first discusses the process leading to the definition of the set of Base Concepts, and the structure and the rationale of the Top Ontology.     

An Integrated Hydrologic Modeling and Data Assimilation Framework

The Land Information System (LIS) is a multiscale hydrologic modeling and data assimilation framework that integrates the use of satellite and ground-based observational data products with advanced land-surface modeling tools to aid several application areas, including water resources management, numerical weather prediction, agricultural management, air quality, and military mobility assessment.     

Design and sensitivity analysis of a reduced-order rotor flux optimal observer for induction motor control

This paper aims to give simple and effective design criteria of rotor flux reduced-order observers for motion control systems with induction motors. While the observer is optimized for rotor and stator resistance variations, a sensitivity analysis is carried out in the presence of variations of all the motor parameters by means of either transfer function from true to observed rotor flux or simulation in a MATLAB-SIMULINK environment, assuming the voltages supplying the motor to be different from those supplying the observer. The sensitivity analysis makes it possible to establish design criteria for the observer in question. The behaviour of the proposed reduced order observer is compared with current model and voltage model observers. Experimental results are also given, with the dual aim of confirming the validity of this design method and showing that the observer can be implemented on microprocessor-based devices.     

A Novel Method of Distance Measurement Based on Pulse Position Modulation and Synchronization of Chaotic Signals Using Ultrasonic Radar Systems

This paper deals with a novel method of transmission and receipt of a signal based on both the property of two chaotic systems generating the same chaotic signal when they are synchronized and the property of pulse position modulation (PPM) to be insensitive to the distortions of the transmission channel. The method is discussed in the context of ultrasonic radar systems, in which the transmitter and receiver, which consist of ultrasonic sensors, are near each other, and the received signal consists of the transmitted signal reflected by an obstacle. A reference sinusoidal signal is superimposed to a chaotic signal generated by a master chaotic system, and the whole signal is modulated according to the PPM method and transmitted by the sensor. The received signal is demodulated, and the demodulated signal forces a slave chaotic system to generate the chaotic signal embedded in it, which allows recovery of the sinusoidal signal by subtracting this chaotic signal from the demodulated echo. The difference of the phases of the reference sinusoidal signal and the recovered sinusoidal signal allows computation of the time of flight of the signal and, consequently, the distance of the radar system from the obstacle. The novel method is illustrated and tested by both simulation and experiments. The interference problem between the considered radar system and other radar systems ( crosstalk) is also addressed, and a solution is proposed to avoid it.     

The Linguistic Design of the EuroWordNet Database

In this paper the linguistic design of the database under construction within the EuroWordNet project is described. This is mainly structured along the same lines as the Princeton WordNet, although some changes have been made to the WordNet overall design due to both theoretical and practical reasons. The most important reasons for such changes are the multilinguality of the EuroWordNet database and the fact that it is intended to be used in Language Engineering applications. Thus, i) some relations have been added to those identified in WordNet; ii) some labels have been identified which can be added to the relations in order to make their implications more explicit and precise; iii) some relations, already present in the WordNet design, have been modified in order to specify their role more clearly.     

Nonlinear Modeling of DC/DC Converters Using the Hammerstein's Approach

This paper deals with the modelling of highly nonlinear switching power-electronics converters using black-box identification methods. The duty cycle and the output voltage are chosen, respectively, as the input and the output of the model. A nonlinear Hammerstein-type mathematical model, consisting of a static nonlinearity and a linear time-invariant model, is considered in order to cope with the well-known limitations of the more common small-signal models, i.e. the entity of the variations of the variables around a well-defined steady-state operating point and the incorrect reproduction of the steady-state behavior corresponding to input step variations from the above steady-state operating point. The static nonlinearity of the Hammerstein model is identified from input-output couples measured at steady state for constant inputs. The linear model is identified from input-output data relative to a transient generated by a suitable pseudorandom binary sequence constructed with two input values used to identify the nonlinearity. The identification procedure is, first, illustrated with reference to a boost DC/DC converter using results of simulations carried out in the PSpice environment as true experimental results. Then, the procedure is experimentally applied on a prototype of the above converter. In order to show the utility of the Hammerstein models, a PI controller is tuned for a nominal model. Simulation and experimental results are displayed with the aim of showing the peculiarities of the approach that is followed.     

Carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) determined in Nigerian kundi (smoke-dried meat)

Chemical analyses of kundi show that, apart from a high level of carcinogenic benzo (a)pyrene (10·5–66·9 ng g^?1), eight other polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are present at various concentrations. The high levels of PAH in kundi are due to the high glow and smoking temperatures averaging 926°C and 191·5°C, respectively. Column chromatography was used for PAH extraction with propylene carbonate as the eluting chemical; thin layer chromatography (TLC) on acetylated cellulose layer plates was used for separation, and the determination was performed using spectrophotofluorimetry. The public health implications of PAH as one of the possible carcinogenic factors in the high incidence of primary liver and stomach cancer reported in Nigeria are highlighted.     

A hybrid observer for localization of mobile vehicles with asynchronous measurements

The aim of this paper is the design of a hybrid nonlinear observer for mobile vehicles. The main problem is that position and velocity measurements are provided with a very low frequency, and the time between two consecutive measurements could be not constant, but it could vary randomly within a certain interval of time. For this reason the proposed observer has been contextualized in the hybrid systems framework. The convergence analysis of the estimation error has been carried out, and the sensitivity analysis has been performed in order to evaluate the bound of the estimation error when the measurements are biased and/or noisy. Simulation and experimental results, carried out on a mobile vehicle, show the feasibility of the proposed observer and the good behaviors in terms of estimation error that can be achieved.     

Compatibility in Interpretation of Relations in EuroWordNet

This paper describes how the Euro WordNet project established a maximum level of consensus in the interpretation of relations, without loosing the possibility of encoding language-specific lexicalizations. Problematic cases arise due to the fact that each site re-used different resources and because the core vocabulary of the wordnets show complex properties. Many of these cases are discussed with respect to language internal and equivalence relations. Possible solutions are given in the form of additional criteria.