High density plasma gun generates plasmas at 190 kilometers per second

Gun has thin metal foil disc which positions or localizes gas to be ionized during electrical discharge cycle, overcoming major limiting factor in obtaining such plasmas. Expanding plasma front travels at 190 km/sec, compared to plasmas of 50 to 60 km/sec previously achieved

Application of genetic algorithms to tuning fuzzy control systems

Real number genetic algorithms (GA) were applied for tuning fuzzy membership functions of three controller applications. The first application is our 'Fuzzy Pong' demonstration, a controller that controls a very responsive system. The performance of the automatically tuned membership functions exceeded that of manually tuned membership functions both when the algorithm started with randomly generated functions and with the best manually-tuned functions. The second GA tunes input membership functions to achieve a specified control surface. The third application is a practical one, a motor controller for a printed circuit manufacturing system. The GA alters the positions and overlaps of the membership functions to accomplish the tuning. The applications, the real number GA approach, the fitness function and population parameters, and the performance improvements achieved are discussed. Directions for further research in tuning input and output membership functions and in tuning fuzzy rules are described

All End-Letters Different in a Poem

In the July 22, 1972 New Yorker magazine there appeared the following sonnet by George Starbuck..

Alphabetical Circumambulations

I recently ran across the following generation-gap misunderstanding in a column written by Earl Wilson

Rebus Poetry

Rebuses have been around for a long time. Most of them exploit letters only; some contain both letters and numbers; but relatively few use letters, numbers, and other typewriter symbols. If the reader will keep in mind that two identical letters, such as EE, can be pronounced either ease or e-e , the following poem should not be too difficult to decode

A Plurality of Singular Verse

In the November 1973 Word Ways, Will Shortz quoted George Canning\u27s famous eighteenth-century conundrum involving the words cares and caress. There are many other words exhibiting this property, as the following verse suggests

An Acrogemalic Apologia

The conventional journalistic wisdom anathematizes any mouthful of a word like anathematizes. Write clearly, write crisply, say the commandments; be positive, not negative; active, not passive; concise, not prolix. Never use two syllables where one will do