Showing papers by "Nottingham Trent University published in 1993"

Intelligent systems for engineers and scientists

Abstract: The third edition of this bestseller examines the principles of artificial intelligence and their application to engineering and science, as well as techniques for developing intelligent systems to solve practical problems. Covering the full spectrum of intelligent systems techniques, it incorporates knowledge-based systems, computational intelligence, and their hybrids. Using clear and concise language, Intelligent Systems for Engineers and Scientists, Third Edition features updates and improvements throughout all chapters. It includes expanded and separated chapters on genetic algorithms and single-candidate optimization techniques, while the chapter on neural networks now covers spiking networks and a range of recurrent networks. The book also provides extended coverage of fuzzy logic, including type-2 and fuzzy control systems. Example programs using rules and uncertainty are presented in an industry-standard format, so that you can run them yourself. The first part of the book describes key techniques of artificial intelligence—including rule-based systems, Bayesian updating, certainty theory, fuzzy logic (types 1 and 2), frames, objects, agents, symbolic learning, case-based reasoning, genetic algorithms, optimization algorithms, neural networks, hybrids, and the Lisp and Prolog languages. The second part describes a wide range of practical applications in interpretation and diagnosis, design and selection, planning, and control. The author provides sufficient detail to help you develop your own intelligent systems for real applications. Whether you are building intelligent systems or you simply want to know more about them, this book provides you with detailed and up-to-date guidance.

Immunomagnetic separation as an alternative to enrichment broths for Salmonella detection

Abstract: One hundred and twenty foodstuffs were tested for the enrichment of Salmonella species by immunoseparation. The foodstuffs covered six groups: raw chicken, prawns, skimmed milk powder, herbs and spices, cocoa powder and animal feed. Half of the food samples were spiked with one Salmonella species: Salm. ealing, Salm. enteritidis, Salm. give, Salm. typhimurium or Salm. virchow. Comparison of Salmonella recovery with standard methods (selenite cystine broth, tetrathionate broth and Rappaport-Vassiliadis broth) was carried out. Immunoseparation gave similar numbers of true positives to the standard enrichment methods in a short time period. Only immunoseparation isolated Salmonella species from spiked garlic granules demonstrating the possible recovery of sublethally injured cells.

The Impact of Storage of Soils during Opencast Mining on the Microbial Community: A Strategist Theory Interpretation

Abstract: The microbial community in a soil stripped and stored during opencast coal mining was analyzed. There were significant effects of soil disturbance on the microbial community: in particular, there were large decreases in the total microbial biomass, as determined by ATP analysis, and numbers of fungal propagules as a result of the store construction process, but there was no significant effect on the numbers of bacteria. During the subsequent months of storage there was a flush in the numbers of bacteria, with gram-negative bacteria showing an increase of nearly 700% in comparison to the control. During this time there was a steady accumulation in the amount of ammonium in the deepest part of the soil store, indicating the onset of anaerobiosis. These changes may be interpreted in terms of lifestyle strategy theory (Grime 1979). The bacteria exhibit behavior typical of R-strategists, or ruderal species, taking advantage of the nutrients made available by the death of fungal biomass during store construction. Fungi respond as C-strategists, or competitors, and they are severely affected by store construction-and unable to persist deep in the anaerobic part of the store. In contrast, anaerobes, S-strategists or stresstolerators, are able to survive under the same conditions. These changes have serious implications for the restoration of systems using stored topsoil as a resource. The microbial population has been altered in terms of its size and composition. Many of the fungi required for adequate breakdown and incorporation of organic matter will be absent, and the soils will be generally poor in microbial biomass. This will lead to inadequate nutrient cycling and poor soil structural stability, two factors essential for the restoration of a self-sustaining ecosystem.

Crime Prevention and the Safer Cities Story

Abstract: The aims, administrative stuctures, funding, evaluation requirements and immediate origins of Safer Cities are described. A detailed explanation of each of the major elements of the programme is then attempted, focussing in particular on the complex interrelationships between politics, Home Office sponsored criminology and policy formulation. There follows an analysis of the context and logic of the programme as it has emerged and may develop in the future. A series of summary statements describing the antecedents of concerns with crime prevention as a policy issue and of safer Cities as a particular expression of this reveal the essentially contingent character of the initiative. © 1993 Howard League and BPL

Crown hole development in the sandstone caves of Nottingham

Abstract: The Nottingham caves have been artificially excavated in the Triassic sandstone Some of their unsupported roofs, spanning up to 5 m, exhibit progressive collapse which can develop into crown holes Nearly all recorded roof failures have occurred where and when the rock has become saturated by water from rainfall or pipe leakages Saturation causes the sandstone to lose rapidly about half its strength as a consequence of the breakdown of clay bridges between the sand grains

Boundary-effect activated dissociation in ion trap tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract: The potential of boundary-effect activated dissociation (BAD) in ion trap tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) is discussed. Several classes of compounds were investigated and the BAD product ion tandem mass spectra were compared with those from collisionally activated dissociation (CAD) where an auxilliary r.f. «tickle» voltage is used. The energy deposition in BAD MS/MS is generally lower than that for optimized CAD, but the experiments are easier to perform. An example of the BAD MS/MS of C 10 alkylbenzenes and benzothiophene in diesel fuel using gas chromatographic introduction and predicted r.f. and d.c. voltages is presented

Multiple word segmentation with interactive look-up for cursive script recognition

Abstract: Cursive script recognition is commonly based on finding letters within a word and recognizing them separately. The segmentation process is ambiguous and difficult. A method which combines word segmentation and letter recognition with lexical look-up in order to cope with segmentation ambiguity is presented. Words are first segmented into small elements which are then put together using a database of their possible combinations to produce alternative segmentations. Letter recognition is performed on each letter candidate and lexical look-up is applied, interactively, to prune illegal word recognition results. Lexical look-up is used to postulate word endings for partially recognized words. This provides the means of catering for words with sloppy endings, some misspellings and recovering from some recognition errors. An online cursive script recognition system, based on the above method, is described and evaluated. >

Gay re-readings of the Harlem Renaissance poets.

Abstract: In the light of the long-established fact of their homosexuality or bisexuality, it is high time for the cluster of "Negro Renaissance" poets, Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and Richard Bruce Nugent, to be reappraised by and for gay readers. This paper seeks to develop gay reading strategies in relation to the poems of these writers, in order to reveal for contemporary readers likely subtexts which, at the time of their writing, were publicly read as bearing on race alone. It is often possible to read a particular poem as referring (in images such as that of the social outcast) to either racial or sexual oppression, interchangeably; and possibly, therefore, to both at once, by way of an implicit comparison. Likewise, poems on miscegenation can just as well be read, via the theme of forbidden love, as referring to homosexuality. The fact that most published critical readings deal only with the racial issue does not invalidate the likelihood that the poem can be, and indeed requires to be, read as referring, also, to sexuality. Gay readings emerge, then, not merely from these writers' representations of attractive men and boys, but also in the midst of their most famously anti-racist themes.

Successful use of information technology in a small tourism enterprise: the case of Country Holidays

Abstract: The contribution which information technology made to the growth and success of a small tourism company, Country Holidays, is examined. The successful use of information technology was due largely to the identification of a business need by a non-technical owner. The key success factor for small businesses might not be information on hardware or software, but an appreciation of the information they need to compete successfully.

A study of homologation and the occurrence of an SA-SC-SA sequence of phases in the 4-n-alkoxy-3-fluorophenyl 4-(5-n-alkyl-2-thienyl)benzoates

Abstract: Seventeen esters, derived from 4-n-alkoxy-3-fluorophenols and 4-(5-n-alkyl-2-thienyl)benzoic acids, have been prepared and their liquid crystal transition temperatures determined by thermal optical microscopy. On cooling the isotropic liquid, the SA-SC-SA sequence of phases reported for the octyloxy-octyl and octyloxy-nonyl esters has been observed for certain other homologues, principally members of the 4-(5-n-nonyl-2-thienyl)benzoates. For these compounds, the temperature range of occurrence of the intermediate SC phase decreases as the length of the alkoxy chain increases (for the hexyloxy-nonyl to dodecyloxy-nonyl esters) and the Sc phase is absent for the tetradecyloxy-nonyl homologue.

Soil Guideline Values in the UK: New Risk-Based Approach

Abstract: At present the UK uses a range of “trigger values” for certain contaminants and site end uses, together with other environmental criteria, to judge a site and the proposed remediation strategy.

Sampling Strategy Guidelines for Contaminated Land

Abstract: Properly formulated spatial sampling designs are an important aspect of any contaminated site investigation. This paper reviews the design principles for effective spatial sampling. The number of sampling points needed to achieve a given probability of success in locating a hot-spot (critically contaminated area) depends on the sampling pattern chosen and the hot-spot size and shape. A new sampling pattern has been devised to provide near-optimum search efficiency when hot-spot shape and orientation are unknown. Specific guidance on sampling density is compared with that published in the Dutch Draft Standard.

Comparison of interrogation methods for particle image velocimetry

Abstract: Two methods of extracting velocity vectors from particle image patterns are described The results are compared with Particle Image Velocimetry using the well established cross- correlation technique for a case of natural convection from a heated tube submerged in a water bath In an endeavour to improve the accuracy of velocity extraction, velocity gradients have been introduced into the algorithm The procedure is repeated to a chosen iterative limit Results presented show the effect of the gradient operator on the velocities obtained in regions where the velocity gradient is large© (1993) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only

Semantic analysis for large vocabulary cursive script recognition

Abstract: The performance of cursive script recognition systems may be improved by applying higher level knowledge in the form of syntax or semantics. A fundamental part of such an approach is the creation of a lexical database containing the relevant information. However, to create a semantic lexicon by hand for a large vocabulary is a considerable task, which is a major reason why so many semantic theories fail to scale up from the small, artificial domains in which they were developed. An alternative approach is to use existing sources of semantic information, such as machine-readable dictionaries (which contain definitions and domain information) and text corpora (from which collocations and domain information may be derived). The development of techniques for acquiring semantic knowledge from such resources and applying it to large vocabulary cursive script recognition is described. >

On-line high performance liquid chromatography — multidimensional gas chromatography and its application to the determination of stilbene hormones in corned beef

Abstract: The combination of high performance liquid chromatography interfaced on-line with multidimensional gas chromatography (HPLC–GC–GC) is described. The HPLC column was interfaced to the GC via an on column interface, with automated pneumatic control of solvent evaporation and GC column switching. Cryogenic cold trapping was used for analyte focusing at the head of the first, non-polar GC capillary column and optionally at the head of the second, polar column. The determination of stilbene hormones in corned beef as their methylated derivatives by flame ionization detection is described.

Fibre optic shape-measuring system using phase-stepping speckle-pattern interferometry

Abstract: A non-contact shape measuring system using fiber optics and digital speckle pattern interferometry (DSPI) is described Fringe patterns for obtaining the height distributions of the shape are generated by traversing one of the illumination beams The system utilizes a 4-step phase stepping algorithm to perform the data reduction A semi-automatic procedure for calibrating the piezoelectric phase shifting device is reported The equations for calculating the surface height are stated and typical results for two specimens are shown Advantages and limitations of the technique and the optical system used are discussed© (1993) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only

Flow visualization using liquid crystals

Abstract: The application of liquid crystal thermography to the measurement of temperature/heat transfer in engineering is well established. Having gained practical experience in the use of liquid crystals for surface temperature and heat transfer determination, and the successful development and implementation of a digital image processing system for automatic analysis, their application has been extended to the simultaneous measurement of flow velocity and temperature by using a combined Liquid Crystal Thermography/Particle Image Velocimetry technique. Natural convection from a horizontal cylinder in an enclosure was chosen as the simple geometry to facilitate preliminary investigations. Water has been artificially seeded with micro-encapsulated liquid crystals and the natural convection flow field recorded on video to facilitate later analysis. By acquiring consecutive frames from the video the velocity magnitude throughout the flow field has been determined. The temperature field has been obtained from the same frames but using a manual technique.

Czechoslovakian Wine: Strategic Development for UK Export

Abstract: The article considers trends in the Czechoslovakian wine industry, the industry's home market faces a decline in per capita consumption and increasing price sensitivity. Through a case study the development of a particular producer of quality wine is examined together with the emergence of a coordinated approach to marketing decisions. The UK is a potential export market for such a producer. The growth and development of the UK wine market is considered and opportunities identified. Developing a producer to serve those requirements is found to be difficult requiring the producer to readdress the issue of quality. Bottles and labels may also need to be changed. The development process requires investment and the risks of political change need to be considered.