373 research outputs found
Remote control of devices using an 8-bit embedded XML & dynamic web-server in a SmartHouse environment : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering in Computer Systems Engineering at Massey University
This paper focuses on an Embedded System known as "TCP/IC" and its role in the "house of the future" - the SmartHouse. Overall, the aim of the TCP/IC was to design a device which could interact with a user (or AI control system) and allow for the control of various attached peripherals remotely. Although such a device could well be used as a standalone device to aid in home-automation, this paper focuses on its use in a SmartHouse environment - one where a number of these devices are networked and controlled by a central AI. The different technologies and protocols involved in the implementation of the TCP/IC, along with its two primary interfaces, namely HTML (used for user interaction) and XML (used for machine interaction) are also discussed. The reader will also be introduced to Embedded Systems and the various design principles involved in the creation of quality Embedded Systems. Core-concepts of home-automation and its logical extension, the SmartHouse are also covered in detail. Various additional interfaces (e.g. Web, XML, custom-formatted text) are also discussed and compared, as are the result of my work and some ideas for future implementations
The Emergence of Norms via Contextual Agreements in Open Societies
This paper explores the emergence of norms in agents' societies when agents
play multiple -even incompatible- roles in their social contexts
simultaneously, and have limited interaction ranges. Specifically, this article
proposes two reinforcement learning methods for agents to compute agreements on
strategies for using common resources to perform joint tasks. The computation
of norms by considering agents' playing multiple roles in their social contexts
has not been studied before. To make the problem even more realistic for open
societies, we do not assume that agents share knowledge on their common
resources. So, they have to compute semantic agreements towards performing
their joint actions. %The paper reports on an empirical study of whether and
how efficiently societies of agents converge to norms, exploring the proposed
social learning processes w.r.t. different society sizes, and the ways agents
are connected. The results reported are very encouraging, regarding the speed
of the learning process as well as the convergence rate, even in quite complex
settings
Investigation on a longitudinal discharge ultra-violet gas laser
Longitudinal discharge refers to a method of electrically discharging an elongated confined geometry, in which the discharge current moves coaxially with the axis of the
elongation geometry. Longitudinal discharge has always been employed to obtain visible and infra-red laser emission in the early days of laser research. Laser light is emitted
coaxially with the discharge current through the tube end opening
The quantitative proteomes of human-induced pluripotent stem cells and embryonic stem cells
An in-depth proteomic comparison of human-induced pluripotent stem cells, and their parent fibroblast cells, with embryonic stem cells shows that the reprogramming process comprehensively remodels protein expression levels, creating cells that closely resemble natural stem cells
Gradient-only approaches to avoid spurious local minima in unconstrained optimization
We reflect on some theoretical aspects of gradient-only optimization for
the unconstrained optimization of objective functions containing non-physical step or
jump discontinuities. This kind of discontinuity arises when the optimization problem
is based on the solutions of systems of partial differential equations, in combination
with variable discretization techniques (e.g. remeshing in spatial domains, and/or
variable time stepping in temporal domains). These discontinuities, which may cause
local minima, are artifacts of the numerical strategies used and should not influence
the solution to the optimization problem. Although the discontinuities imply that the
gradient field is not defined everywhere, the gradient field associated with the computational
scheme can nevertheless be computed everywhere; this field is denoted the
associated gradient field.
We demonstrate that it is possible to overcome attraction to the local minima if
only associated gradient information is used. Various gradient-only algorithmic options
are discussed. A salient feature of our approach is that variable discretization
strategies, so important in the numerical solution of partial differential equations, can
be combined with efficient local optimization algorithms.National Research Foundation (NRF)http://link.springer.com/journal/11081hb201
Establishment and characterisation of testicular cancer patient-derived xenograft models for preclinical evaluation of novel therapeutic strategies
Testicular cancer (TC) is the most common solid tumour in young men. While cisplatin-based chemotherapy is highly effective in TC patients, chemoresistance still accounts for 10% of disease-related deaths. Pre-clinical models that faithfully reflect patient tumours are needed to assist in target discovery and drug development. Tumour pieces from eight TC patients were subcutaneously implanted in NOD scid gamma (NSG) mice. Three patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models of TC, including one chemoresistant model, were established containing yolk sac tumour and teratoma components. PDX models and corresponding patient tumours were characterised by H&E, Ki-67 and cyclophilin A immunohistochemistry, showing retention of histological subtypes over several passages. Whole-exome sequencing, copy number variation analysis and RNA-sequencing was performed on these TP53 wild type PDX tumours to assess the effects of passaging, showing high concordance of molecular features between passages. Cisplatin sensitivity of PDX models corresponded with patients' response to cisplatin-based chemotherapy. MDM2 and mTORC1/2 targeted drugs showed efficacy in the cisplatin sensitive PDX models. In conclusion, we describe three PDX models faithfully reflecting chemosensitivity of TC patients. These models can be used for mechanistic studies and pre-clinical validation of novel therapeutic strategies in testicular cancer
Effects of mixed versus blocked design on stimulus evaluation: combining underaddative effects.
(from the journal abstract) According to the asynchronous discrete coding model of Miller, two manipulations should display underadditive effects on reaction time if they slow down noncontingent stages associated with the processing of two separable dimensions of a stimulus. Underadditive effects are also predicted by a dual route model when a task variable is factorially varied with design type (mixed vs blocked). Interpretations of both underadditive effects and their combination were evaluated. Intact and degraded stimuli were presented to 18 young adults either in a single block (mixed) or in separate blocks (blocked). Spatial stimulus-response (S-R) compatibility was manipulated in all conditions. Stimulus degradation and S-R compatibility interacted underadditively, but only in blocked presentations. Both interpretations of underadditive effects were supported. Eye-movement registrations provided additional support for the alternative routes model
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