873 research outputs found
Obligation Norm Identification in Agent Societies
Most works on norms have investigated how norms are regulated using institutional mechanisms. Very few works have focused on how an agent may infer the norms of a society without the norm being explicitly given to the agent. This paper describes a mechanism for identifying one type of norm, an obligation norm. The Obligation Norm Inference (ONI) algorithm described in this paper makes use of an association rule mining approach to identify obligation norms. Using agent based simulation of a virtual restaurant we demonstrate how an agent can identify the tipping norm. The experiments that we have conducted demonstrate that an agent in the system is able to add, remove and modify norms dynamically. An agent can also flexibly modify the parameters of the system based on whether it is successful in identifying a norm.Norms, Social Norms, Obligations, Norm Identification, Agent-Based Simulation, Simulation of Norms, Artificial Societies, Normative Multi-Agent Systems (NorMAS)
The heat of atomization of sulfur trioxide, SO - a benchmark for computational thermochemistry
Calibration ab initio (direct coupled cluster) calculations including basis
set extrapolation, relativistic effects, inner-shell correlation, and an
anharmonic zero-point energy, predict the total atomization energy at 0 K of
SO to be 335.96 (observed 335.920.19) kcal/mol. Inner polarization
functions make very large (40 kcal/mol with , 10 kcal/mol with
basis sets) contributions to the SCF part of the binding energy. The molecule
presents an unusual hurdle for less computationally intensive theoretical
thermochemistry methods and is proposed as a benchmark for them. A slight
modification of Weizmann-1 (W1) theory is proposed that appears to
significantly improve performance for second-row compounds.Comment: Chem. Phys. Lett., in pres
Late tertiary-recent tectonic-sedimentary evolution of extensional sedimentary basins of the Northern Menderes Massif, West Turkey
The ground-state spectroscopic constants of Be_2 revisited
Extensive ab initio calibration calculations combined with extrapolations
towards the infinite-basis limit lead to a ground-state dissociation energy of
Be_2, D_e=944 \pm 25 1/cm, substantially higher than the accepted experimental
value, and confirming recent theoretical findings. Our best computed
spectroscopic observables (expt. values in parameters) are G(1)-G(0)=223.7
(223.8), G(2)-G(1)=173.8 (169 \pm 3), G(3)-G(2)=125.4 (122 \pm 3), and
B_0=0.6086 (0.609) 1/cm; revised spectroscopic constants are proposed.
Multireference calculations based on a full valence CAS(4/8) reference suffer
from an unbalanced description of angular correlation; for the utmost accuracy,
a CAS(4/16) reference including the orbitals is required, while for
less accurate work a CAS(4/4) reference is recommended. The quality of computed
coupled cluster results depends crucially on the description of connected
triple excitations; the CC5SD(T) method yields unusually good results because
of an error compensation.Comment: Chem. Phys. Lett., in pres
Heats of formation of perchloric acid, HClO, and perchloric anhydride, ClO. Probing the limits of W1 and W2 theory
The heats of formation of HClO and ClO have been determined to
chemical accuracy for the first time by means of W1 and W2 theory. These
molecules exhibit particularly severe degrees of inner polarization, and as
such obtaining a basis-set limit SCF component to the total atomization energy
becomes a challenge. (Adding high-exponent functions to a standard
basis set has an effect on the order of 100 kcal/mol for ClO.) Wilson's
aug-cc-pV(n+d)Z basis sets represent a dramatic improvement over the standard
aug-cc-pVnZ basis sets, while the aug-cc-pVnZ+2d1f sequence converges still
more rapidly. Jensen's polarization consistent basis sets still require
additional high-exponent functions: for smooth convergence we suggest the
\{aug-pc1+3d,aug-pc2+2d,aug-pc3+d,aug-pc4\} sequence. The role of the tight
functions is shown to be an improved description of the Cl (3d) Rydberg
orbital, enhancing its ability to receive back-bonding from the oxygen lone
pairs. In problematic cases like this (or indeed in general), a single
SCF/aug-cc-pV6Z+2d1f calculation may be preferable over empirically motivated
extrapolations. Our best estimate heats of formation are HClO(g)1 kcal/mol and ClO(g)2 kcal/mol, the largest source of
uncertainty being our inability to account for post-CCSD(T) correlation
effects. While G2 and G3 theory have fairly large errors, G3X theory reproduces
both values to within 2 kcal/mol.Comment: J. Mol. Struct. (THEOCHEM), in press (WATOC'05 special issue
Telepresence and user-initiated control
To date, telepresence; defined as being virtually present at a remote, real location; is a research subject primarily of interest to robotics and aerospace industries. The pi-lot system and the study presented here aim to investigate whether telepresence can be achieved with an affordable and easy to use system. In our approach a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) with a camera represents the remote self at the local site. The PDA is mounted to a pan and tilt unit which can be con-trolled from the remote location by simply pressing keys on the keyboard of a PC. In a pilot user study we can show, that (a) even this simple setup can be used as a telep-resence system, (b) the control of the field of view within the remote environment is important, and (c) some social presence properties are positively influenced by the user-initiated control
RNA Viral Community in Human Feces: Prevalence of Plant Pathogenic Viruses
The human gut is known to be a reservoir of a wide variety of microbes, including viruses. Many RNA viruses are known to be associated with gastroenteritis; however, the enteric RNA viral community present in healthy humans has not been described. Here, we present a comparative metagenomic analysis of the RNA viruses found in three fecal samples from two healthy human individuals. For this study, uncultured viruses were concentrated by tangential flow filtration, and viral RNA was extracted and cloned into shotgun viral cDNA libraries for sequencing analysis. The vast majority of the 36,769 viral sequences obtained were similar to plant pathogenic RNA viruses. The most abundant fecal virus in this study was pepper mild mottle virus (PMMV), which was found in high concentrations—up to 10(9) virions per gram of dry weight fecal matter. PMMV was also detected in 12 (66.7%) of 18 fecal samples collected from healthy individuals on two continents, indicating that this plant virus is prevalent in the human population. A number of pepper-based foods tested positive for PMMV, suggesting dietary origins for this virus. Intriguingly, the fecal PMMV was infectious to host plants, suggesting that humans might act as a vehicle for the dissemination of certain plant viruses
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