41,812 research outputs found
A language for functional interpretation of model based simulation
Functional modeling is in use for the interpretation of the results of model based simulation of engineered systems for design analysis, enabling the automatic generation of a textual design analysis report that expresses the results of the simulation in terms of the system’s purpose. We present a novel functional description language that increases the expressiveness of this approach, allowing a system function to be decomposed in terms of subsidiary functions as well as required effects, increasing the range both of systems and design analysis tasks for which the approach can be used.
Scientific requirements for an engineered model of consciousness
The building of a non-natural conscious system requires more than the design of physical or virtual machines with intuitively conceived abilities, philosophically elucidated architecture or hardware homologous to an animal’s brain. Human society might one day treat a type of robot or computing system as an artificial person. Yet that would not answer scientific questions about the machine’s consciousness or otherwise. Indeed, empirical tests for consciousness are impossible because no such entity is denoted within the theoretical structure of the science of mind, i.e. psychology. However, contemporary experimental psychology can identify if a specific mental process is conscious in particular circumstances, by theory-based interpretation of the overt performance of human beings. Thus, if we are to build a conscious machine, the artificial systems must be used as a test-bed for theory developed from the existing science that distinguishes conscious from non-conscious causation in natural systems. Only such a rich and realistic account of hypothetical processes accounting for observed input/output relationships can establish whether or not an engineered system is a model of consciousness. It follows that any research project on machine consciousness needs a programme of psychological experiments on the demonstration systems and that the programme should be designed to deliver a fully detailed scientific theory of the type of artificial mind being developed – a Psychology of that Machine
Diffractive sidewall grating coupler: towards 2D free-space optics on chip.
Silicon photonics has been the subject of intense research efforts. In order to implement complex integrated silicon photonic devices and systems, a wide range of robust building blocks is needed. Waveguide couplers are fundamental devices in integrated optics, enabling different functionalities such as power dividers, spot-size converters, coherent hybrids and fiber-chip coupling interfaces, to name a few. In this work we propose a new type of nanophotonic coupler based on sidewall grating (SIGRA) concept. SIGRAs have been used in the Bragg regime, for filtering applications, as well as in the sub-wavelength regime in multimode interference (MMI) couplers. However, the use of SIGRAs in the radiation regime has been very limited. Specifically, a coarse wavelength division multiplexer was proposed and experimentally validated. In this work we study the use of SIGRAs in the diffractive regime as a mean to couple the light between a silicon wire waveguide mode and a continuum of slab waveguide modes. We also propose an original technique for designing SIGRA based couplers, enabling the synthesis of arbitrary radiation field profile by Floquet- Bloch analysis of individual diffracting elements while substantially alleviating computational load. Results are further validated by 3D FDTD simulations which confirm that the radiated field profile closely matches the target design field.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional AndalucÃa Tec
Photon recycling in Fabry-Perot micro-cavities based on SiN waveguides
We present a numerical analysis and preliminary experimental results on
one-dimensional Fabry-Perot micro-cavities in SiN waveguides. The
Fabry-Perot micro-cavities are formed by two distributed Bragg reflectors
separated by a straight portion of waveguide. The Bragg reflectors are composed
by a few air slits produced within the SiN waveguides. In order to
increase the quality factor of the micro-cavities, we have minimized, with a
multiparametric optimization tool, the insertion loss of the reflectors by
varying the length of their first periods (those facing the cavity). To explain
the simulation results the coupling of the fundamental waveguide mode with
radiative modes in the Fabry-Perot micro-cavities is needed. This effect is
described as a recycling of radiative modes in the waveguide. To support the
modelling, preliminary experimental results of micro-cavities in SiN
waveguides realized with Focused Ion Beam technique are reported.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Recent developments in the application of risk analysis to waste technologies.
The European waste sector is undergoing a period of unprecedented change driven
by business consolidation, new legislation and heightened public and government
scrutiny. One feature is the transition of the sector towards a process industry
with increased pre-treatment of wastes prior to the disposal of residues and the
co-location of technologies at single sites, often also for resource recovery
and residuals management. Waste technologies such as in-vessel composting, the
thermal treatment of clinical waste, the stabilisation of hazardous wastes,
biomass gasification, sludge combustion and the use of wastes as fuel, present
operators and regulators with new challenges as to their safe and
environmentally responsible operation. A second feature of recent change is an
increased regulatory emphasis on public and ecosystem health and the need for
assessments of risk to and from waste installations. Public confidence in waste
management, secured in part through enforcement of the planning and permitting
regimes and sound operational performance, is central to establishing the
infrastructure of new waste technologies. Well-informed risk management plays a
critical role. We discuss recent developments in risk analysis within the sector
and the future needs of risk analysis that are required to respond to the new
waste and resource management agenda
Considerations for a design and operations knowledge support system for Space Station Freedom
Engineering and operations of modern engineered systems depend critically upon detailed design and operations knowledge that is accurate and authoritative. A design and operations knowledge support system (DOKSS) is a modern computer-based information system providing knowledge about the creation, evolution, and growth of an engineered system. The purpose of a DOKSS is to provide convenient and effective access to this multifaceted information. The complexity of Space Station Freedom's (SSF's) systems, elements, interfaces, and organizations makes convenient access to design knowledge especially important, when compared to simpler systems. The life cycle length, being 30 or more years, adds a new dimension to space operations, maintenance, and evolution. Provided here is a review and discussion of design knowledge support systems to be delivered and operated as a critical part of the engineered system. A concept of a DOKSS for Space Station Freedom (SSF) is presented. This is followed by a detailed discussion of a DOKSS for the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center and Work Package-2 portions of SSF
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