Development of soft computing and applications in agricultural and biological engineering

Soft computing is a set of “inexact” computing techniques, which are able to model and analyze very complex problems. For these complex problems, more conventional methods have not been able to produce cost-effective, analytical, or complete solutions. Soft computing has been extensively studied and applied in the last three decades for scientific research and engineering computing. In agricultural and biological engineering, researchers and engineers have developed methods of fuzzy logic, artificial neural networks, genetic algorithms, decision trees, and support vector machines to study soil and water regimes related to crop growth, analyze the operation of food processing, and support decision-making in precision farming. This paper reviews the development of soft computing techniques. With the concepts and methods, applications of soft computing in the field of agricultural and biological engineering are presented, especially in the soil and water context for crop management and decision support in precision agriculture. The future of development and application of soft computing in agricultural and biological engineering is discussed

Sleep‐disordered breathing in major depressive disorder

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/99077/1/jsr12029.pd

STM/STS Study on 4a X 4a Electronic Charge Order of Superconducting Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d

We performed low-bias STM measurements on underdoped Bi2212 crystals, and confirmed that a two-dimensional (2D) superstructure with a periodicity of four lattice constants (4a) is formed within the Cu-O plane at T<Tc. This 4a X 4a superstructure, oriented along the Cu-O bonding direction, is nondispersive and more intense in lightly doped samples with a zero temperature pseudogap (ZTPG) than in samples with a d-wave gap. The nondispersive 4a X 4a superstructure was clearly observed within the ZTPG or d-wave gap, while it tended to fade out outside the gaps. The present results provide a useful test for various models proposed for an electronic order hidden in the underdoped region of high-Tc cuprates.Comment: 4 pages, submitted to J. Phys. Soc. Jp

Antikaon production in nucleon-nucleon reactions near threshold

The antikaon production cross section from nucleon-nucleon reactions near threshold is studied in a meson exchange model. We include both pion and kaon exchange, but neglect the interference between the amplitudes. In case of pion exchange the antikaon production cross section can be expressed in terms of the antikaon production cross section from a pion-nucleon interaction, which we take from the experimental data if available. Otherwise, a $K^*$-resonance exchange model is introduced to relate the different reaction cross sections. In case of kaon exchange the antikaon production cross section is related to the elastic $KN$ and $\bar KN$ cross sections, which are again taken from experimental measurements. We find that the one-meson exchange model gives a satisfactory fit to the available data for the $NN\to NNK\bar K$ cross section at high energies. We compare our predictions for the cross section near threshold with an earlier empirical parameterization and that from phase space models.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX, 5 postscript figures included, submitted to Z. Phys.

Synthesis of Mesoporous Silica@Co–Al Layered Double Hydroxide Spheres: Layer-by-Layer Method and Their Effects on the Flame Retardancy of Epoxy Resins

Hierarchical mesoporous silica@Co–Al layered double hydroxide (m-SiO2@Co–Al LDH) spheres were prepared through a layer-by-layer assembly process, in order to integrate their excellent physical and chemical functionalities. TEM results depicted that, due to the electrostatic potential difference between m-SiO2 and Co–Al LDH, the synthetic m-SiO2@Co–Al LDH hybrids exhibited that m-SiO2 spheres were packaged by the Co–Al LDH nanosheets. Subsequently, the m-SiO2@Co–Al LDH spheres were incorporated into epoxy resin (EP) to prepare specimens for investigation of their flame-retardant performance. Cone results indicated that m-SiO2@Co–Al LDH incorporated obviously improved fire retardant of EP. A plausible mechanism of fire retardant was hypothesized based on the analyses of thermal conductivity, char residues, and pyrolysis fragments. Labyrinth effect of m-SiO2 and formation of graphitized carbon char catalyzed by Co–Al LDH play pivotal roles in the flame retardance enhancement

Single hadron response measurement and calorimeter jet energy scale uncertainty with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

The uncertainty on the calorimeter energy response to jets of particles is derived for the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). First, the calorimeter response to single isolated charged hadrons is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo simulation using proton-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of sqrt(s) = 900 GeV and 7 TeV collected during 2009 and 2010. Then, using the decay of K_s and Lambda particles, the calorimeter response to specific types of particles (positively and negatively charged pions, protons, and anti-protons) is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo predictions. Finally, the jet energy scale uncertainty is determined by propagating the response uncertainty for single charged and neutral particles to jets. The response uncertainty is 2-5% for central isolated hadrons and 1-3% for the final calorimeter jet energy scale.Comment: 24 pages plus author list (36 pages total), 23 figures, 1 table, submitted to European Physical Journal

Measurements of branching fraction ratios and CP-asymmetries in suppressed B^- -> D(-> K^+ pi^-)K^- and B^- -> D(-> K^+ pi^-)pi^- decays

We report the first reconstruction in hadron collisions of the suppressed decays B^- -> D(-> K^+ pi^-)K^- and B^- -> D(-> K^+ pi^-)pi^-, sensitive to the CKM phase gamma, using data from 7 fb^-1 of integrated luminosity collected by the CDF II detector at the Tevatron collider. We reconstruct a signal for the B^- -> D(-> K^+ pi^-)K^- suppressed mode with a significance of 3.2 standard deviations, and measure the ratios of the suppressed to favored branching fractions R(K) = [22.0 \pm 8.6(stat)\pm 2.6(syst)]\times 10^-3, R^+(K) = [42.6\pm 13.7(stat)\pm 2.8(syst)]\times 10^-3, R^-(K)= [3.8\pm 10.3(stat)\pm 2.7(syst]\times 10^-3, as well as the direct CP-violating asymmetry A(K) = -0.82\pm 0.44(stat)\pm 0.09(syst) of this mode. Corresponding quantities for B^- -> D(-> K^+ pi^-)pi^- decay are also reported.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, accepted by Phys.Rev.D Rapid Communications for Publicatio

Measurements of Higgs boson production and couplings in diboson final states with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements are presented of production properties and couplings of the recently discovered Higgs boson using the decays into boson pairs, H →γ γ, H → Z Z∗ →4l and H →W W∗ →lνlν. The results are based on the complete pp collision data sample recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at centre-of-mass energies of √s = 7 TeV and √s = 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 25 fb−1. Evidence for Higgs boson production through vector-boson fusion is reported. Results of combined fits probing Higgs boson couplings to fermions and bosons, as well as anomalous contributions to loop-induced production and decay modes, are presented. All measurements are consistent with expectations for the Standard Model Higgs boson