Evolving macro-actions for planning

Domain re-engineering through macro-actions (i.e. macros) provides one potential avenue for research into learning for planning. However, most existing work learns macros that are reusable plan fragments and so observable from planner behaviours online or plan characteristics offline. Also, there are learning methods that learn macros from domain analysis. Nevertheless, most of these methods explore restricted macro spaces and exploit specific features of planners or domains. But, the learning examples, especially that are used to acquire previous experiences, might not cover many aspects of the system, or might not always reflect that better choices have been made during the search. Moreover, any specific properties are not likely to be common with many planners or domains. This paper presents an offline evolutionary method that learns macros for arbitrary planners and domains. Our method explores a wider macro space and learns macros that are somehow not observable from the examples. Our method also represents a generalised macro learning framework as it does not discover or utilise any specific structural properties of planners or domains

Dissecting the Discourse of Social Licence to Operate

The term “social licence to operate”, or SLO, has increasingly featured in public discussion about commercial operations in the marine environment. As part of the Sustainable Seas National Challenge, we are studying how this term is being used in New Zealand and its implications for industry-community relations

Accessing emergency rest centres in the UK - lesson learnt

Emergency rest centres (ERC) are premises that are used for the temporary accommodation of evacuees during an emergency situation. They form an important part of emergency response, by providing a focal point for receiving people and providing food, shelter, information and support. The Disability Discrimination Act 2005 creates a legislative right for ‘reasonable’ access to goods and services for disabled people. This legislation does not differentiate between emergency and non emergency situations which means that those with a responsibility for emergency planning need to consider the accessibility of ERCs. This article examines ERC provision and reviews access for disabled people. It focuses on a study of three ERCs that were established in different local authority areas within the Yorkshire and Humber region in the UK during a flooding event on 25th June 2007. While uncovering many instances of good practise, the results from the research also identified a number of lessons to be learnt, in particular it was noted that the main barriers to access were encountered with: • Facilities and elements that did not comprise part of the buildings normal operation, such as the provision of bedding, medical assistance and effective communication; and • Facilities that would not normally be expected to be used to the extent, or duration, whilst the emergency rest centre was in operation, such as the provision of adequate welfare facilities. The research also noted that Civil Protection Legislation within the UK contains limited instruction or guidance to those with responsibility for Emergency Rest Centre provision. This provides little impetus for Emergency Planners to consider the needs of disabled people. This research has broad implications for local authorities and national government representatives. It identifies a need for those with responsibility for emergency planning and response to strengthen their knowledge of disabled people, and to adopt a more holistic approach to the provision of emergency planning and response

Scattering of charge carriers by point defects in bilayer graphene

Theory of scattering of massive chiral fermions in bilayer graphene by radial symmetric potential is developed. It is shown that in the case when the electron wavelength is much larger than the radius of the potential the scattering cross-section is proportional to the electron wavelength. This leads to the mobility independent on the electron concentration. In contrast with the case of single-layer, neutral and charged defects are, in general, equally relevant for the resistivity of the bilayer graphene.Comment: final versio

Surveying the solar system by measuring angles and times: from the solar density to the gravitational constant

A surprisingly large amount of information on our solar system can be gained from simple measurements of the apparent angular diameters of the sun and the moon. This information includes the average density of the sun, the distance between earth and moon, the radius of the moon, and the gravitational constant. In this note it is described how these and other quantities can be obtained by simple earthbound measurements of angles and times only, without using any explicit information on distances between celestial bodies. The pedagogical and historical aspects of these results are also discussed briefly.Comment: 12 pges, one figur

A simple derivation of Kepler's laws without solving differential equations

Proceeding like Newton with a discrete time approach of motion and a geometrical representation of velocity and acceleration, we obtain Kepler's laws without solving differential equations. The difficult part of Newton's work, when it calls for non trivial properties of ellipses, is avoided by the introduction of polar coordinates. Then a simple reconsideration of Newton's figure naturally leads to en explicit expression of the velocity and to the equation of the trajectory. This derivation, which can be fully apprehended by beginners at university (or even before) can be considered as a first application of mechanical concepts to a physical problem of great historical and pedagogical interest

Ice/frost detection using millimeter wave radiometry

A series of ice detection tests was performed on the shuttle external tank (ET) and on ET target samples using a 35/95 GHz instrumentation radiometer. Ice was formed using liquid nitrogen and water spray inside a test enclosure containing ET spray on foam insulation samples. During cryogenic fueling operations prior to the shuttle orbiter engine firing tests, ice was formed with freon and water over a one meter square section of the ET LOX tank. Data analysis was performed on the ice signatures, collected by the radiometer, using Georgia Tech computing facilities. Data analysis technique developed include: ice signature images of scanned ET target; pixel temperature contour plots; time correlation of target data with ice present versus no ice formation; and ice signature radiometric temperature statistical data, i.e., mean, variance, and standard deviation

Completed cohomology of Shimura curves and a p-adic Jacquet-Langlands correspondence

We study indefinite quaternion algebras over totally real fields F, and give an example of a cohomological construction of p-adic Jacquet-Langlands functoriality using completed cohomology. We also study the (tame) levels of p-adic automorphic forms on these quaternion algebras and give an analogue of Mazur's `level lowering' principle.Comment: Updated version. Contains some minor corrections compared to the published versio