Mining predecessor–successor rules from DAG data

Data mining extracts implicit, previously unknown, and potentially useful information from databases. Many approaches have been proposed to extract information, and one of the most important ones is finding association rules. Although a large amount of research has been devoted to this subject, none of it finds association rules from directed acyclic graph (DAG) data. Without such a mining method, the hidden knowledge, if any, cannot be discovered from the databases storing DAG data such as family genealogy profiles, product structures, XML documents, task precedence relations, and course structures. In this article, we define a new kind of association rule in DAG databases called the predecessor–successor rule, where a node x is a predecessor of another node y if we can find a path in DAG where x appears before y. The predecessor–successor rules enable us to observe how the characteristics of the predecessors influence the successors. An approach containing four stages is proposed to discover the predecessor–successor rules. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Int Syst 21: 621–637, 2006.     

Solutions to a combined problem of excessive hydrogen sulfide in biogas and struvite scaling.

The Woodman Point Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) in Western Australia has experienced two separate problems causing avoidable maintenance costs: the build-up of massive struvite (MgNH4PO4. 6H2O) scaling downstream of the anaerobic digester and the formation of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) levels in the digester gas to levels that compromised gas engine operation and caused high operating costs on the gas scrubber. As both problems hang together with a chemical imbalance in the anaerobic digester, we decided to investigate whether both problems could be (feasibly and economically) addressed by a common solution (such as dosing of iron solutions to precipitate both sulfide and phosphate), or by using separate approaches. Laboratory results showed that, the hydrogen sulfide emission in digesters could be effectively and economically controlled by the addition of iron dosing. Slightly higher than the theoretical value of 1.5 mol of FeCl3 was required to precipitate 1 mol of dissolved sulfide inside the digester. Due to the high concentration of PO4(3-) in the digested sludge liquor, significantly higher iron is required for struvite precipitation. Iron dosing did not appear an economic solution for struvite control via iron phosphate formation. By taking advantage of the natural tendency of struvite formation in the digester liquid, it is possible to reduce the risk of struvite precipitation in and around the sludge-dewatering centrifuge by increasing the pH to precipitate struvite out before passing through the centrifuge. However, as the Mg2+/PO4(3-) molar ratio in digested sludge was low, by increasing the pH alone (using NaOH) the precipitation of PO4(3-) was limited by the amount of cations (Ca2+ and Mg2+) available in the sludge. Although this would reduce struvite precipitation in the centrifuge, it could not significantly reduce PO4(3-) recycling back to the plant. For long-term operation, maximum PO4(3-) reduction should be the ultimate aim to minimise PO4(3-) accumulation in the plant. Magnesium hydroxide liquid (MHL) was found to be the most cost-effective chemical to achieve this goal. It enhanced struvite precipitation from both, digested sludge and centrate to the point where more than 95% PO4(3-) reduction in the digested sludge was achieved.     

An expectation-driven response understanding paradigm

This paper describes a model that can account for ad hoc user-responses to argument interrogative type of system-initiated questions. Successful implementation of the model can provide an alternative solution that is more effective than the menu-driven approach that has been proposed as a meager solution to enable the system to ask a question to the user. The proposed model assumes that when the system asks a question, it maintains an expectation of the potential answers. The system then uses the expectation as the focus to perform the most likely interpretation of the user's response. Without using such a focus the interpretation process could be unbounded. The interpretation process is mapped into a heuristic search problem. The interpretation process results in identifying a particular expectation-response relationship type, which the system can use to tailor its response strategy with respect to the given user-response. A prototype has been constructed to demonstrate the soundness of the proposed model     

Biochemical identification of transmembrane segments of the Ca(2+)-ATPase of sarcoplasmic reticulum

The transmembrane segments of sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+)-ATPase were determined by trypsinization of cytoplasmic side-out intact sarcoplasmic reticulum vesicles. The membrane portion of tryptic digest comprising the transmembrane fragments, joined by the intravesicular segments, was separated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis after labeling with fluorescein 5-maleimide in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate. In this way, seven fluorescent bands of tryptic fragments below 11 kDa were observed which were derived from 4 pairs of membrane spanning segments and one hydrophobic sequence at the C-terminal end. Two peptides of 10.8 and 10.6 kDa had the identical N-terminal sequence beginning at Glu826, representing the transmembrane segments M7 and M8 and their connecting loop. A band at 8.1 kDa contained one peptide beginning at Tyr36 (M1/loop/M2). A 7.7-kDa peptide starting at Leu253 (M3/loop/M4) and a 7.3-kDa peptide beginning at Ala752 (M5/loop/M6) were also observed. A band at 6.7 kDa contained two peptides, one beginning at Ser48 (M1/loop/M2) and another beginning at Tyr763 (M5/loop/M6). In addition, a 4-kDa peptide beginning at Met925 was observed. The size of this peptide did not allow for a complete pair of transmembrane segments, but this peptide could have been derived from trypsinolysis between the last pair of membrane spanning segments. These data therefore provide biochemical evidence for at least 8 transmembrane segments and perhaps two more at the C-terminal end of the enzyme.     

An EM‐based adaptive multiple target tracking filter

Tracking targets of interest is one of the major research areas in radar surveillance systems. We formulate the problem as incomplete data estimation and apply EM to the MAP estimate. The resulting filter has a recursive structure analogous to the Kalman filter. The advantage is that the measurement‐update deals with multiple measurements in parallel and the parameter‐update estimates the system parameters on the fly. Experiments tracking separate targets in parallel show that tracking maintenance ratio of the proposed system is better than that of NNF and RMS position error is smaller than that of PDAF. Also, the system parameters are correctly obtained even from incorrect initial values. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Holographic polymer‐dispersed liquid crystal fabrication under electric field

The transmission mode of holographic polymer‐dispersed liquid crystals (HPDLCs) was developed an under electric field. It is reported that orientation of LC molecules under an electric field induces orientation of oligomer molecules giving rise to low off‐state diffraction and small grating shrinkage. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry     

A 0.6–2.7 GHz Semidynamic Frequency Divide-by-3 Utilizing Wideband RC Polyphase Filter in 0.18 $mu$m CMOS

A wideband complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) semidynamic frequency divide-by-3 covering more than two octave bandwidths is presented. The wideband operation without requiring a quadrature signal source is realized by employing a three-stage RC polyphase filter. The transfer function analysis on Type-II two- and three-stage polyphase filters is performed to provide analytic solutions of the peak phase error and peak attenuation. Implemented in 0.18 mum CMOS, the divide-by-3 operates over the input frequency range between 0.6 and 2.7 GHz while dissipating 15 mA from a 1.8 V supply.     

Production and structural features of a water-soluble polysaccharide from a mutant strain of Agrobacterium sp.

We have developed a mutant strain derived from Agrobacterium sp. ATCC 31750, which produces a water-soluble polysaccharide having potential utility to the food, feed, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. A high concentration of product (15 g/L) is obtained by 48 h cultivation of the mutant strain under optimized fermentation conditions. The water-soluble polysaccharide obtained from cultures of the mutant strain beta82 has Glc:Man:Gal in approximate molar ratios of 5.8:6.7:1.0. The molecular weight of the polysaccharide was determined to be approximately 1000 kDa by HPSEC analysis. Linkage analysis contained 3-Glcp, 3-Manp, terminal Glcp and terminal Manp, as well as a small proportion of 3- and 3,4-Galp, and 4,6-Manp residues. Based on analyses using FT-IR and ¹³C NMR spectrometers, most glycosidic bonds joining these sugar residues are of the α-type, and acetyl groups are apparently attached to the polymer chain at random.     

Effects of surfactant/silica and silica/cerium ratios on the characteristics of mesoporous Ce-MCM-41

Using the surfactant CTMABr (cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide) and cerium(IV) sulfate, mesoporous Ce-MCM-41 molecular sieves were produced under a hydrothermal condition with various surfactant/silica (surfactant/Si) and silica/cerium (Si/Ce) ratios. Changes to the structural traits caused by changing the molar ratios of both surfactant/Si and Si/Ce were investigated. XRD (X-ray diffraction), FT-IR (fourier transform infrared spectroscopy), and SEM (scanning electro microscopy) were used for the characterization of prepared mesoporous samples. Among the tested molar ratios, surfactant/Si ratio of 0.5 and 0.2 showed highest values of d_1 0 0 and intensity, respectively, for the Si-MCM-41. XRD analysis also identified a quintessential hexagonal structure of Ce-MCM-41 for the Si/Ce molar ratio higher than 40 (maintaining the surfactant/Si ratio at 0.2). When cerium content was increased to have the Si/Ce molar ratio of 20, the hexagonal structure of Ce-MCM-41 was collapsed due to the structural stress of substituted cerium. FT-IR results confirmed calcination of Ce-MCM-41 and the incorporation of Ce⁴⁺ ions of cerium sulfate into the silica surface with proper removal of the surfactant. Rod-like shape with rounded edges of the prepared Ce-MCM-41 samples was identified by SEM. These results suggest surfactant/Si ratio of 0.2 and Si/Ce ratio of 40 for the production of Ce-MCM-41 with the highest level of crystallinity.     

Prediction and quality control of the melt index during production of high-density polyethylene

In polyolefin processes the melt index (MI) is the most important control variable indicating product quality. Because of the difficulty in the on-line measurement of MI, a lot of MI estimation and correlation methods have been proposed. In this work a new dynamic MI estimation scheme is developed based on system identification techniques. The empirical MI estimation equation proposed in the present study is derived from the 1 ^st -order dynamic models. Effectiveness of the present estimation scheme was illustrated by numerical simulations based on plant operation data including grade change operations in high density polyethylene (HDPE) processes. From the comparisons with other estimation methods it was found that the proposed estimation scheme showed better performance in MI predictions. The virtual sensor model developed based on the estimation scheme was combined with the virtual on-line analyzer (VOA) to give a quality control system to be implemented in the actual HDPE plant. From the application of the present control system, significant reduction of transition time and the amount of off-spec during grade changes was achieved