DNAgents 3.0: Genetically Engineered Mobile Agents for a Dynamic Network Topology

Mobile agents are a relatively new topic in the realm of computer science research. They are being researched throughout the world by many scientists in order to ascertain their viability in real world applications. They have many disadvantages that keep them from widespread adoption. With his graduate dissertation Genetically Engineered Intelligent Mobile Agents, Kackley opened a whole new area of this research by combining mobile agents with genetic algorithms. These algorithms model the natural process of evolution to evolve solutions for problems. This thesis is part of a research group effort to expand on Kackley’s work in the Database Research Lab for Intelligent Agents at the University of Southern Mississippi. The goals of this research were to first gain a thorough understanding of both mobile agents and genetic algorithms and to augment DNAgents 2.0 with new capabilities. Currently, in Kackleyʼs implementation of DNAgents 2.0, there is no mechanism to facilitate a changing network topology. This behavior is not suited for a live network environment in which computers could be connecting or disconnecting to the network throughout the mobile agentʼs task. In order to take advantage of the full potential of mobile agents, one needs to give them ability to adapt to an ever-changing network. In this research we propose an addition to Kackleyʼs dissertation project to allow adding arbitrary nodes to the network. In our DNAgents 3.0, the simulation is now able to add new nodes with either random or specific links to other nodes. The agents are immediately able to seamlessly move to the new node by reaching it through one of these linked neighbors. This allows for the genetically engineered agents to operate on a dynamic network topology

Femtosecond laser nanostructuring of transparent materials: from bulk to fiber lasers

Progress in high power ultra-short pulse lasers has opened new frontiers in the physics of light-matter interactions and laser material processing. Recently there has been considerable interest in the application of femtosecond lasers to writing inside transparent materials and in particular to fabrication of three-dimensional microstructures

"Quill" writing with ultrashort light pulses in transparent materials

A remarkable phenomenon in ultrafast laser processing of transparent materials, in particular, silica glass, manifested as a change in material modification by reversing the writing direction is observed. The effect resembles writing with a quill pen and is interpreted in terms of anisotropic trapping of electron plasma by a tilted front of the ultrashort laser pulse along the writing direction

Self-assembled periodic sub-wavelength structures by femtosecond laser direct writing

Self-assembled, sub-wavelength periodic structures are induced in fused silica by a tightly focused, linearly polarized, femtosecond laser beam. Two different types of periodic structures, the main one with period (λE) in the direction of the laser beam polarization and the second with period (λk) in the direction of the light propagation, are identified from the cross-sectional images of the modified regions using scanning electron microscopy. We demonstrate the spatial coherence of these nanogratings in the plane perpendicular to the beam propagation direction. The range of effective pulse energy which could produce nanogratings narrows when the pulse repetition rate of writing laser increases. The period λE is proportional to the wavelength of the writing laser and period λk in the head of the modified region remains approximately the wavelength of light in fused silica

Thermography and electroluminescence imaging of scribing failures in Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 thin film solar modules

Intentionally implemented scribing failures in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 modules are studied using electroluminescence (EL) and dark lock-in thermography (DLIT). While the EL images do not allow a non-ambiguous defect distinction, the DLIT images reveal characteristic defect patterns for each defect type. In order to explain the DLIT defect appearance, we model and simulate the scribing defects in a network simulation model. The simulations yield characteristic current flow patterns for each scribing defect type and thus aid in the understanding and interpretation of the measurements