Modelling and Simulation of Tactical Team Behaviour

Realistic military simulations are needed for analysis, planning, and training. Intelligentagent technology is a valuable software concept with the potential of being widely used inmilitary simulation applications. They provide a powerful abstraction mechanism required fordesigning simulations of complex and dynamic battlefields. Their ability to model the tacticaldecision-making behaviour of simulated battlefield entities gives them an edge over othertechniques. During battlefield simulation, these entities generally represent individualisticbehaviour, taking operational order from higher control and executing relevant plans. However,since a complex battlefield scenario typically involves thousands of entities, their coordinatedteam behaviour should also be considered to make the simulation more realistic. This paperdemonstrates the use of intelligent agent-based team behaviour modelling concepts in simulatingthe armoured tanks in a tactical masking scenario

Command Agent Belief Architecture to Support Commander Decision Making in Military Simulation

In the war, military conflicts have many aspects that are consistent with complexity theory e.g., the higher commander’s decision is directed at animate entity that react under hierarchical and self-organised structure in decentralised command and control for the collectivist dynamism of decomposed elements due to nonlinear complexity of warfare on the battlefield. Agent technology have been found to be suitable for modelling tactical behaviour of entities at multiple level of resolution under hierarchical command and control (C2) structure and provide a powerful abstraction mechanism required for designing simulations of complex and dynamic battlefield situations. Intelligent agents can potentially reduce the overhead on such experiments and studies. Command agents, plan how to carry out the operation and assign tasks to subordinate agents. They receive information from battlefield environment and use such information to build situation awareness and also to respond to unforeseen situations. In the paper, we have proposed a mechanism for modelling tactical behaviour of an intelligent agent by which higher command level entities should be able to synthesize their beliefs derived from the lower level sub ordinates entities. This paper presents a role-based belief, desire and intention mechanism to facilitate in the representation of military hierarchy, modelling of tactical behaviour based on agent current belief, teammate’s belief propagation, and coordination issues. Higher commander can view the battlefield information at different levels of abstraction based on concept of aggregation and disaggregation and take appropriate reactive response to any unforeseen circumstances happening in battlefield

Breeding for Resistance to Stem Borer ( Chilo partellus Swinhoe) in Sorghum

Stem borer (Chilo partellus Swinhoe) is the most important pest of sorghum. Progress has been made in developing borer-resistant breeding lines with moderate yield and acceptable grain quality. Sorghum variety, ICSV 700, has high levels of stem borer resistance across several seasons and locations. Borer resistance is a quantitatively inherited trait governed by additive and nonadditive genes. Epistatic gene effects are more pronounced under artificial borer infestation. Cytoplasmic effects appear to be present

On the A-dependence of nuclear generalized parton distributions

We perform a microscopic evaluation of nuclear GPDs for spin-0 nuclei in the framework of the Walecka model. We demonstrate that the meson (non-nucleon) degrees of freedom dramatically influence nuclear GPDs, which is revealed in the non-trivial and unexpected A-dependence of DVCS observables. In particular, we find that the first moment of the nuclear D-term, d_A(0) ~ A^2.26, which confirms the earlier prediction of M.Polyakov. We find that in the HERMES kinematics, contrary to the free proton case, the nuclear meson degrees of freedom in large nuclei enhance the nuclear DVCS amplitude which becomes comparable to the Bethe-Heitler amplitude, and, thus, give the non-trivial A-dependence to the DVCS asymmetries: as a function of the atomic number the beam-charge asymmetry increases whereas the beam-spin asymmetry decreases slowly.Comment: Final version published in J. Phys. G. 17 pages, 9 figure

Host-plant resistance to sorghum stem borer

Sorghum is an important cereal crop in the semi-arid tropics. In India it is grown during the rainy (Kharif) and the post rainy (rabi) seasons Grain yields under farmers conditions are generally low (500-800kg ha-1)one of the reasons for low yields is crop damage by insect pest. Nearly 150 insects species have been reported on sorghum (young and teetes 1977 Seshureddy and Davies 1979 b)of which most widespread and economically important pests are shoot fly stem borers, army worm, midge, head bugs, and head caterpillar

Breeding for resistance to Chilo partellus Swinhoe in sorghum

Host-plant resistance plays an important role in the insect-pest management either alone or in combination with other control methods. A number of sorghum genotypes showing varying levels of resistance to spotted stem borer, Chilo partellus Swinhoe have been identified using natural and artificial infestations. Major resistance mechanisms are antibiosis and tolerance, though some genotypes exhibit ovipositional non-preferences. There have been a number of factors involved in spotted stem borer resistance; a resistant genotype possesses either one or a combination of these traits. Progress has been made in developing borer resistant breeding lines with moderate yield and acceptable grain quality. Borer resistance is a quantitatively inherited trait governed by additive and non-additive genes. Epistatic gene effects are more pronounced under artificial borer infestation. Cytoplasmic effects appear to be presen

Terrestrial laser scanning: an operational tool for fuel hazard mapping?

Fuel hazard estimates are vital for the prediction of fire behaviour and planning fuel treatment activities. Previous literature has highlighted the potential of Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) to be used to assess fuel properties. However, operational uptake of these systems has been limited due to a lack of a sampling approach that balances efficiency and data efficacy. This study aims to assess whether an operational approach utilising Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) to capture fuel information over an area commensurate with current fuel hazard assessment protocols implemented in South-Eastern Australia is feasible. TLS data were captured over various plots in South-Eastern Australia, utilising both low- and high-cost TLS sensors. Results indicate that both scanners provided similar overall representation of the ground, vertical distribution of vegetation and fuel hazard estimates. The analysis of fuel information contained within individual scans clipped to 4 m showed similar results to that of the fully co-registered plot (cover estimates of near-surface vegetation were within 10%, elevated vegetation within 15%, and height estimates of near-surface and elevated strata within 0.05 cm). This study recommends that, to capture a plot in an operational environment (balancing efficiency and data completeness), a sufficient number of non-overlapping individual scans can provide reliable estimates of fuel information at the near-surface and elevated strata, without the need for co-registration in the case study environments. The use of TLS within the rigid structure provided by current fuel observation protocols provides incremental benefit to the measurement of fuel hazard. Future research should leverage the full capability of TLS data and combine it with moisture estimates to gain a full realisation of the fuel hazard

Tunable variation of optical properties of polymer capped gold nanoparticles

Optical properties of polymer capped gold nanoparticles of various sizes (diameter 3-6 nm) have been studied. We present a new scheme to extract size dependent variation of total dielectric function of gold nanoparticles from measured UV-Vis absorption data. The new scheme can also be used, in principle, for other related systems as well. We show how quantum effect, surface atomic co - ordination and polymer - nanoparticle interface morphology leads to a systematic variation in inter band part of the dielectric function of gold nanoparticles, obtained from the analysis using our new scheme. Careful analysis enables identification of the possible changes to the electronic band structure in such nanoparticles.Comment: 13 pages,7 figures, 1 tabl

A complete laboratory for transport studies of electron-hole interactions in GaAs/AlGaAs ambipolar bilayers

We present GaAs/AlGaAs double quantum well devices that can operate as both electron-hole (e-h) and hole-hole (h-h) bilayers, with separating barriers as narrow as 5 nm or 7.5 nm. With such narrow barriers, in the h-h configuration, we observe signs of magnetic-field-induced exciton condensation in the quantum Hall bilayer regime. In the same devices, we can study the zero-magnetic-field e-h and h-h bilayer states using Coulomb drag. Very strong e-h Coulomb drag resistivity (up to 10% of the single layer resistivity) is observed at liquid helium temperatures, but no definite signs of exciton condensation are seen in this case. Self-consistent calculations of the electron and hole wavefunctions show this might be because the average interlayer separation is larger in the e-h case than the h-h case