Autonomic computing

"Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them." - Alfred North Whitehead

This quote made by the preeminent mathematician Alfred Whitehead holds both the lock and the key to the next era of computing. It implies a threshold moment surpassed only after humans have been able to automate increasingly complex tasks in order to achieve forward momentum.

There is every reason to believe that we are at just such a threshold right now in computing. The millions of businesses, billions of humans that compose them, and trillions of devices that they will depend upon all require the services of the I/T industry to keep them running. And it's not just a matter of numbers. It's the complexity   of these systems and the way they work together that is creating shortage of skilled I/T workers to manage all of the systems. The high-tech industry has spent decades creating computer systems with ever- mounting degrees of complexity to solve a wide variety of business problems. Ironically, complexity itself has become part of the problem. It’s a problem that's not going away, but will grow exponentially, just as our dependence on technology has.

 But as Mr. Whitehead so eloquently put it nearly a century ago, the solution may  lie in automation, or creating a new capacity where important computing operations can run without the need for human intervention. On October 15th, 2001 Paul Horn, senior vice president of IBM Research addressed the Agenda conference, an annual meeting of the preeminent technological minds, held in Arizona. In his speech, and in a document he distributed there, he suggested a solution: build computer systems that regulate themselves much in the same way our  nervous systems regulates and protects our bodies.

This new model of computing is called autonomic computing. The good news is that some components of this technology are already up and running. However, complete  autonomic systems do not yet exist. This is not a proprietary solution. It's a radical change in the way businesses, academia, and even the government design, develop, manage and maintain computer systems. Autonomic computing calls for a whole new area of study and a whole new way of conducting business.

Animatronics

The first use of Audio-Animatronics was for Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room in Disneyland, which opened in June, 1963. The Tiki birds were operated using digital controls; that is, something that is either on or off. Tones were recorded onto tape, which on playback would cause a metal reed to vibrate. The vibrating reed would close a circuit and thus operate a relay. The relay sent a pulse of energy (electricity) to the figure's mechanism which would cause a pneumatic valve to operate, which resulted in the action, like the opening of a bird's beak. Each action (e.g., opening of the mouth) had a neutral position, otherwise known as the "natural resting position" (e.g., in the case of the Tiki bird it would be for the mouth to be closed). When there was no pulse of energy forthcoming, the action would be in, or return to, the natural resting position.

This digital/tone-reed system used pneumatic valves exclusively--that is, everything was operated by air pressure. Audio-Animatronics' movements that were operated with this system had two limitations. First, the movement had to be simple--on or off. (e.g., The open and shut beak of a Tiki bird or the blink of an eye, as compared to the many different positions of raising and lowering an arm.) Second, the movements couldn't require much force or power. (e.g., The energy needed to open a Tiki Bird's beak could easily be obtained by using air pressure, but in the case of lifting an arm, the pneumatic system didn't provide enough power to accomplish the lift.) Walt and WED knew that this this pneumatic system could not sufficiently handle the more complicated shows of the World's Fair. A new system was devised.

In addition to the digital programming of the Tiki show, the Fair shows required analog programming. This new "analog system" involved the use of voltage regulation. The tone would be on constantly throughout the show, and the voltage would be varied to create the movement of the figure. This "varied voltage" signal was sent to what was referred to as the "black box." The black boxes had the electronic equipment that would receive the signal and then activate the pneumatic and hydraulic valves that moved the performing figures. The use of hydraulics allowed for a substantial increase in power, which was needed for the more unwieldy and demanding movements. (Hydraulics were used exclusively with the analog system, and pneumatics were used only with the tone-reed/digital system.)

There were two basic ways of programming a figure. The first used two different methods of controlling the voltage regulation. One was a joystick-like device called a transducer, and the other device was a potentiometer (an instrument for measuring an unknown voltage or potential difference by comparison to a standard voltage--like the volume control knob on a radio or television receiver). If this method was used, when a figure was ready to be programmed, each individual action--one at a time-- would be refined, rehearsed, and then recorded. For instance, the programmer, through the use of the potentiometer or transducer, would repeatedly rehearse the gesture of lifting the arm, until it was ready for a "take." This would not include finger movement or any other movements, it was simply the lifting of an arm. The take would then be recorded by laying down audible sound impulses (tones) onto a piece of 35 mm magnetic film stock. The action could then instantly be played back to see if it would work, or if it had to be redone. (The machines used for recording and playback were the 35 mm magnetic units used primarily in the dubbing process for motion pictures. Many additional units that were capable of just playback were also required for this process. Because of their limited function these playback units were called "dummies.")

Eventually, there would be a number of actions for each figure, resulting in an equal number of reels of 35 mm magnetic film (e.g., ten actions would equal ten reels). All individual actions were then rerecorded onto a single reel--up to ten actions, each activated by a different tone, could be combined onto a single reel. For each action/reel, one dummy was required to play it back. Thus for ten actions, ten playback machines and one recording machine were required to combine the moves onto a new reel of 35 mm magnetic film.

"Sync marks" (synchronization points) were placed at the front end of each individual action reel and all of the dummies were interlocked. This way, during the rerecording, all of the actions would start at the proper time. As soon as it was finished, the new reel could be played back and the combined actions could be studied. Wathel, and often times Marc Davis (who did a lot of the programming and animation design for the Carousel show) would watch the figure go through the motions of the newly recorded multiple actions. If it was decided that the actions didn't work together, or something needed to be changed, the process was started over; either by rerecording the individual action, or by combining the multiple actions again. If the latter needed to be done, say the "arm lift action" came in too early, it would be accomplished by unlocking the dummy that had the "arm-lift reel" on it. The film would then be hand cranked, forward or back, a certain number of frames, which changed the start time of the arm lift in relation to the other actions. The dummies would be interlocked, and the actions, complete with new timing on the arm lift, would be recorded once again.

With this dummy system, the dialogue and music could also be interlocked and synched-up with the actions. Then the audio could be listened to as the figure went through the actions. This was extremely helpful in getting the gestures and actions to match the dialogue.

The other method used for programming a figure was the control harness. It was hooked up so that it would control the voltage regulation relative to the movements of the harness. Wathel tells horror stories of sitting in the harness for hours upon end, trying to keep every movement in his body to a minimum, except for the several movements they wanted for the figure. This method had the advantage of being able to do several actions at once, but obviously due to the complexities, a great deal of rehearsal was required.

There was also a harness for the mouth movements. Ken O'Brien, who was responsible for programming most of the mouth movements, used a transducer at first for the mouth programming. Later they designed a harness for his head that controlled the movement of the jaw," remembered Gordon Williams, recording engineer on the AA figures for the Fair. "It was easier for him to coordinate the movement, because he could watch the movement at the same time that he was doing it."

Artificial neural network

This seminar is about the artificial neural network application in processing industry. An artificial neural network as a computing system is made up of a number of simple and highly interconnected processing elements, which processes information by its dynamic state response to external inputs. In recent times study of ANN models have gained rapid and increasing importance because of their potential to offer solutions to some of the problems in the area of computer science and artificial intelligence. Instead of performing a program of instructions sequentially, neural network models explore many competing hypothesis simultaneously using parallel nets composed of many computational elements. No assumptions will be made because no functional relationship will be established. Computational elements in neural networks are non linear models and also faster. Hence the result comes out through non linearity due to which the result is very accurate than other methods. The details of deferent neural networks and their learning algorithm are presented its clearly illustrator how multi layer neural network identifies the system using forward and inverse modeling approach and generates control signal. The method presented here are directed inverse, direct adaptive, internal model and direct model reference control based ANN techniques. 

Asynchronous Chips

Computer chips of today are synchronous. They contain a main clock, which controls the timing of the entire chips. There are problems, however, involved with these clocked designs that are common today.

One problem is speed. A chip can only work as fast as its slowest component. Therefore, if one part of the chip is especially slow, the other parts of the chip are forced to sit idle. This wasted computed time is obviously detrimental to the speed of the chip.

New problems with speeding up a clocked chip are just around the corner. Clock frequencies are getting so fast that signals can barely cross the chip in one clock cycle. When we get to the point where the clock cannot drive the entire chip, we’ll be forced to come up with a solution. One possible solution is a second clock, but this will incur overhead and power consumption, so this is a poor solution. It is also important to note that doubling the frequency of the clock does not double the chip speed, therefore blindly trying to increase chip speed by increasing frequency without considering other options is foolish.

The other major problem with c clocked design is power consumption. The clock consumes more power that any other component of the chip. The most disturbing thing about this is that the clock serves no direct computational use. A clock does not perform operations on information; it simply orchestrates the computational parts of the computer.

New problems with power consumption are arising. As the number of transistors on a chi increases, so does the power used by the clock. Therefore, as we design more complicated chips, power consumption becomes an even more crucial topic. Mobile electronics are the target for many chips.

These chips need to be even more conservative with power consumption in order to have a reasonable battery lifetime.

The natural solution to the above problems, as you may have guessed, is to eliminate the source of these headaches: the clock.

The Caltech Asynchronous Microprocessor is the world’s first asynchronous microprocessor (1989).

Anti-HIV using Nanotech

Nanorobots are nanodevices that will be used for the purpose of maintaining and protecting the human body against pathogens. Nano is one billionth of one. Nanotechnology is the technology in which the operations are performed on nanometrics. It is the application of different technologies primarily interested in the reduction of size.

The credential part of this paper gives the theoretical application of nanodevices in the treatment of AIDS. There is no technology for the treatment of AIDS. Some of the drugs of specific composition are given to the patients depending on the intensity of the disease. The drugs using nowadays are able to increase the lifetime to a few years only. To make the treatment more specific, we use the nanodevices that use nanosensors to sense the AIDS infected Web’s. In this we are using nanorobots to get back the HIV infected Web’s. By doing so constant levels of Web’s are maintained in the blood stream. Thus the AIDS patient is provided with the immune system so that he can defend himself from diseases.

In this paper only a theoretical analysis is given and all the information provided are specifically organized by us .In India more than 50 lakhs of people are infected by this dreaded disease and it constitutes 10% of the total infected. We are doing research on this paper and we hope that this theoretical approach can be made practical in the near future, so that the society get benefited.

VOICE MORPHING

Voice morphing means the transition of one speech signal into another. Like image morphing, speech morphing aims to preserve the shared characteristics of the starting and final signals, while generating a smooth transition between them. Speech morphing is analogous to image morphing. In image morphing the in-between images all show one face smoothly changing its shape and texture until it turns into the target face. It is this feature that a speech morph should possess. One speech signal should smoothly change into another, keeping the shared characteristics of the starting and ending signals but smoothly changing the other properties. The major properties of concern as far as a speech signal is concerned are its pitch and envelope information. These two reside in a convolved form in a speech signal. Hence some efficient method for extracting each of these is necessary. We have adopted an uncomplicated approach namely cepstral analysis to do the same. Pitch and formant information in each signal is extracted using the cepstral approach. Necessary processing to obtain the morphed speech signal include methods like Cross fading of envelope information, Dynamic Time Warping to match the major signal features (pitch) and Signal Re-estimation to convert the morphed speech signal back into the acoustic waveform.

This report has been subdivided into seven chapters. The second chapter gives an idea of the various processes involved in this project in a concise manner. A thorough analysis of the procedure used to accomplish morphing and the necessary theory involved is presented in an uncomplicated manner in the third chapter. Processes like pre processing, cepstral analysis, dynamic time warping and signal re-estimation are vividly described with necessary diagrams. The fourth chapter gives a deep insight into the actual morphing process. The conversion of the morphed signal into an acoustic waveform is dealt in detail in the fifth chapter. Chapter six summarizes the whole morphing process with the help of a block diagram. Chapter seven lists the conclusions that have been drawn from this project. 

WITRICITY- WIRELESS ELECTRICITY

Don't you hate it when you forget to put your mobile phone on charge? Well, take heart - a new technology called WiTricity could mean never having to plug it in again. Welcome to the world of WiTricity. WiTricity, a portmanteau for wireless electricity, is a term which describes wireless energy transfer, the ability to provide electrical energy to remote objects without wires. The term was coined initially in 2005 by Dave Gerding and later used for the project of a MIT research team led by Prof. Marin Solijaci.

The wireless electricity works on the principle of using coupled resonant objects for the transfer of electricity to objects without the use of any wires. This concept of witricity was made possible using resonance where an object vibrates with the application of a certain frequency of energy. The MIT researchers have been able to power a 60 watt light bulb from a power source that is located about seven feet away. This was made possible using two copper coils that were twenty inches in diameter which were designed so that they resonated together in the MHz range. One of these coils were connected to a power source while the other, to a bulb. With this witricity setup, the bulb got powered even when the coils were not in sight.

The main advantages of witricity are that it is omni directional; the mess of wires can also be avoided .Thus enabling us in easy recharging of our electronic gadgets likes mobiles and laptops. Also, interactions of the environmental objects with the magnetic fields are suppressed since there is no tendency of interaction with the common materials. Its discovery is different from all previous effort because it uses “magnetically coupled resonance", which means it will not only be safe but it will be fairly efficient.

This technology is a big impediment to development in the retail sector right now. The wireless transfer of electricity has been a sci-fi dream up to this point, and truly, if electricity could simply be in the air, in the same way radio waves and wi-fi signals are, it would change the world.

Robotics

Robots have always had a fascination in our mind. With their various applications in various fields, they have become a common part in our daily life. They are meant to ease our work and increase our comfort of living.

The term ‘robot’ got prominence way back in the 1950s when Karl Capek in his play Rossum’s Universal Robots denoted the birth of a superior race that had intelligence similar to that of humans.

As Robots come in various forms and have application in various fields defining a Robot becomes that much difficult. There are various definitions for the term Robot. Some of them are:

“Force through intelligence”.

“An automatic device that performs functions normally ascribed to humans or a machine in the form of a human”.

The most accepted definition of a Robot provided by the Robotics Institute of America in 1979 is that:

“A robot is a reprogrammable multifunctional manipulator designed to move material, Parts, tools or specialized devices through variable programmed motions for the Performance of a variety of tasks”.

Robotics is that branch which involves with the study and applications of Robots. The goal of Robotics is to mimic natural world as closely as possible. Robotics is a relatively new field of engineering (about approximately 50 years old) and is finding many applications in different areas.

With growing developments in the field of mechatronics and mathematic modeling, Robotics has come a long way. From an iron piece that could move only a few inches, there are now machines capable of jumping from high rise buildings, detecting landmines, performing complicated operations, and troubleshooting.

A good teacher

In my view a good teacher have the ability to bond with your students, to understand and resonate with their feelings and emotions, communicate on their level and be compassionate with them when they are down and to celebrate with them when they are up. You are able to think more on the positive and a little less on the negative.  Need to keep a smile on your face when things get tough. Need to see the bright side of things. Should be well aware to find the positives in every negative situation. To be philosophy is always be an important fact . You are able to acknowledge that the only real constant in life is change. You know there is a place for tradition but there is also a place for new ways, new ideas, new systems, and new approaches. You don't put obstacles in your way by being blinkered and are always open and willing to listen to others' ideas. You are the window through which many young people will see their future. Be a fine role model.

You are able to motivate your students by using creative and inspirational methods of teaching. You are different in your approach and that makes you stand out from the crowd. You know that a great sense of humour reduces barriers and lightens the atmosphere especially during heavy periods. An ability to make your students laugh will carry you far and gain you more respect. It also increases your popularity. You know that your students are visual, auditory or kinesthetic learners. You are adept at creating presentation styles for all three. Your body language is your main communicator and you keep it positive at all times. Like a great orator you are passionate when you speak. But at the same time you know that discussion and not lecturing stimulates greater feedback. You know that the aggression, negative attitudes and behaviours that you see in some of your students have a root cause. You know that they are really scared young people who have come through some bad experiences in life. This keeps you calm and in control of you, of them and the situation. You are good at helping your student de-stress.

You know that no one is more important in the world than anyone else. You know that everyone has a place in the world. You respect your peers and your students. Having that respect for others gets you the respect back from others. You know that you can change a young person's life by helping them to realize their potential, helping them to grow, helping them to find their talents, skills and abilities. You are passionate about what you do. Teaching young people is your true vocation in life. Your purpose in life is to make a difference. You are willing to learn from other teachers AND your students. Although knowledgeable in your subject you know that you never stop learning.

Electrodeless lamps

In contrast with all other electrical lamps that use electrical connections through the lamp envelope to transfer power to the lamp, in electrode less lamps the power needed to generate light is transferred from the outside of the lamp envelope by means of (electro)magnetic fields. There are two advantages of eliminating electrodes. The first is extended bulb life, because the electrodes are usually the limiting factor in bulb life. The second benefit is the ability to use light-generating substances that would react with metal electrodes in normal lamps.

Aside from the method of coupling energy into the mercury vapor, these lamps are very similar to conventional fluorescent lamps. Mercury vapor in the discharge vessel is electrically excited to produce short-wave ultraviolet light, which then excites the phosphors to produce visible light. While still relatively unknown to the public, these lamps have been available since 1990. The most common form has the shape of an incandescent light bulb. Unlike an incandescent lamp or conventional fluorescent lamps, there is no electrical connection going inside the glass bulb; the energy is transferred through the glass envelope solely by electromagnetic induction.

In the most common form, a glass tube (B) protrudes bulb-wards from the bottom of the discharge vessel (A). This tube contains an antenna called a power coupler, which consists of a coil wound over tubular ferrite core.

In lower-frequency versions of induction systems, the lamp consists of two long parallel glass tubes, connected by two short tubes that have coils mounted around them.

The antenna coils receive electric power from the electronic ballast (C) that generates a high frequency. The exact frequency varies with lamp design, but popular examples include 13.6 MHz, 2.65 MHz and 250 kHz (in physically large lamps). A special resonant circuit in the ballast produces an initial high voltage on the coil to start a gas discharge; thereafter the voltage is reduced to normal running level.

The system can be seen as a type of transformer, with the power coupler forming the primary coil and the gas discharge arc in the bulb forming the one-turn secondary coil and the load of the transformer. The ballast is connected to mains electricity, and is generally designed to operate on voltages between 100 and 277 VAC at a frequency of 50 or 60 Hz. Most ballasts can also be connected to DC voltage sources like batteries for emergency lighting purposes.

In other conventional gas discharge lamps, the electrodes are the part with the shortest life, limiting the lamp lifespan severely. Since an induction lamp has no electrodes, it can have a very long service life. For induction lamp systems with a separate ballast, the service life can be as long as 100, 000 hours, which is 11.4 years continuous operation, or 22.8 years used at night or day only. For induction lamps with integrated ballast, the life is 15, 000 to 30, 000 hours. Extremely high-quality electronic circuits are needed for the ballast to attain such a long service life. Such expensive lamps have special application areas in situations where replacement costs are high.

Research on electrodeless lamps continues, with variations in operating frequency, lamp shape, the induction coils and other design parameters. Low public awareness and relatively high prices have so far kept the use of such lamps highly specialized.

SMILE

       We are drawn to people who smile. There is an attraction factor. We want to know a smiling person and figure out what is so good. Frowns, scowls and grimaces all push people away -- but a smile draws them in. When someone is smiling they lighten up the room, change the moods of others, and make things happier. A smiling person brings happiness with them. Smile lots and you will draw people to you. Next time you are feeling down, try putting on a smile. There's a good chance you mood will change for the better. Smiling can trick the body into helping you change your mood

      Stress can really show up in our faces. Smiling helps to prevent us from looking tired, worn down, and overwhelmed. When you are stressed, take time to put on a smile. The stress should be reduced and you'll be better able to take action. Smiling helps the immune system to work better. When you smile, immune function improves possibly because you are more relaxed. Prevent the flu and colds by smiling. When you smile, there is a measurable reduction in your blood pressure. Give it a try if you have a blood pressure monitor at home. Sit for a few minutes, take a reading. Then smile for a minute and take another reading while still smiling. Do you notice a difference?

    Studies have shown that smiling releases endorphins, natural pain killers, and serotonin. Together these three make us feel good. Smiling is a natural drug. The muscles we use to smile lift the face, making a person appear younger. Don't go for a face lift, just try smiling your way through the day -- you'll look younger and feel better.

Smiling people appear more confident, are more likely to be promoted, and more likely to be approached. Put on a smile at meetings and appointments and people will react to you differently.

     Try this test: Smile. Now try to think of something negative without losing the smile. It's hard. When we smile our body is sending the rest of us a message that "Life is Good!" Stay away from depression, stress and worry by smiling

A good seminar

Outline of a typical presentation The first slide has the title, the date of the paper and/or the talk, and your affiliation. If you have a co-author, this is the time to make that clear.
Try to provide a perspective (a puzzle, an empirical regularity, an historical example, a casual observation, a curious gap in the literature, etc.) that you can use as a "hook" to get your audience's attention.

Give an outline of the presentation. It’s not necessary to read from the slide each of the steps of your talk (e.g., literature review, model, data, results, conclusion)--most of those present in the audience can read very well without your help. However, if you want to emphasize a particular part of your talk (e.g.. "I really want to get to the results so I'll skip quickly over the model during my talk. For those interested, the details are contained in my paper anyhow"), point this out right away.

Don't spend too much time on the literature review. The point of the review is to put your paper in perspective. Avoid getting into a long argument about whether you've cited the right group of papers or whether you have misrepresented a literature. You want to talk about your own work, not someone else's.

Present your main contributions right away. It's extremely important that you emphasize your contribution and distinguish what you've done that adds to the literature. You may want to repeat your list of contributions at the end of the talk, but don't try to keep the audience in suspense! Let them know your contribution immediately. This helps the audience focus on how to assess your paper and means that even those in the audience who leave early will have a good idea of what you want them to take away from your talk. 

If you have a model in your paper that is involved and difficult to follow, try to present a stripped down version in the presentation that you can use to develop the intuition for the main findings. Then you can say that in the paper you show that the intuition extends to a richer setting. 

If you put up a slide with an equation, make sure that you read through it so that the audience can follow the notation that you are using. If it's not standard (e.g., "F is a production function with inputs of capital and labor") try to give an economic interpretation of the equation. 

If you put up a graph, make sure that it's clear what's on the two axes and that you describe what the graph demonstrates. 

If you put up a table, make sure that you take one entry and explain clearly what it means in detail and then briefly indicate how to read the remaining entries.

You should have some planned 'slack' in your talk. That is material that you don't plan to cover but that you can include if for some reason you receive fewer or briefer questions than usual. Also, there may be parts of the talk where you anticipate that some audiences will want additional clarification and/or detail. Have it ready, but don't plan to use it unless it comes up in the talk.

Always keep your eyes on the time remaining. If you start to fall behind in your planned pace you should try to adjust your talk by eliminating the least important remaining parts of your talk. Always aim to finish a few minutes early.

End with your conclusion slide. If you have started or plan to begin related research, mention it. Then prepare to kick back and think beyond your paper if that's what the audience wants.

How to face a seminar?

1). Memorizing - this is absolutely the worst way to keep track of material. People are preoccupied with trying to remember the words to say and not the ideas behind the words (or with the audience). As a result, normal voice inflection disappears. With memorizing, mental blocks become inevitable. With memorizing it is not a matter of "will" you forget; it's a matter of WHEN!

2). Reading from complete text - Listening to someone read a speech or presentation is hated by most people. People say, "If that's all they were going to do is read their speech, I could have read it myself." I'm sure many of us have experienced this at least once while attending a conference or two. Below are some reasons why I believe people read poorly:

3). Using Notes - This is the most common way for remembering material. Using notes is better than reading since the speaker can have normal voice inflection and make more effective eye contact. If your notes are on the lectern, you probably won't move very far from them. If notes are in your hand, you probably won't gesture very much.

4).Using Visual Aids As Notes - Simple visual aids can effectively serve as headings and subheadings. Speak to the heading. Say what you want to say and move on. If you forget something, that's okay; the audience will never know unless you tell them.
Practice creating just a few meaningful headings to use and practice using only these headings as your "cues". This will take practice, but practicing using only these few words will force you to better internalize your speech.

10 tips to take a seminar

A speech needs time to grow. Prepare for weeks, sleep on it, dream about it and let your ideas sink into your subconscious. Ask yourself questions, write down your thoughts, and keep adding new ideas. As you prepare every speech ask yourself the following questions.

In one concise sentence, what is the purpose of this speech?
1) Who is the audience? What is their main interest in this topic?
2) What do I really know and believe about this topic as it relates to this audience?
3) What additional research can I do?
4) What are the main points of this presentation?
5) What supporting information and stories can I use to support each of my main points?
6) What visual aids, if any, do I need?
7) Do I have an effective opening grabber?
8) In my final summary, how will I plan to tell them "What's In It For Me?"
9) Have I polished and prepared the language and words I will use?
10) Have I taken care of the little details that will help me speak more confidently?

How to take seminars effectively?

Method

1) Please communicate clearly with your audience in this area - your presentation should demonstrate that you have evaluated the scientific merits or faults (as discussed in this course) of the research you are presenting, at least for Round 1 (where you present on ascientific paper)
2) For Round 2, please present the results of your project (either the 3 or 9 credit honors project or guided readings) in a way that makes it clear you have developed one or more hypotheses, deduced predictions from it/them, and tested it/them. If you are doing guided readings, you can present your work by beginning with the question or hypothesis that motivated the readings you did. Then, describe the scientific results you found in those readings and whether the results supported your initial hypothesis.

Posture and organization

1) Be straightforward and logical, think of it as telling a story - you want a less expert audience to be able to follow along
2) Be certain to start with a brief introductory summary of what you will cover (outline!!!)
3) Provide sufficient background so that the audience can appreciate the significance of the paper (who cares???)
4) Use visual aids as appropriate, flow-charts can be very helpful when explaining methods and experimental designs
5) At the close of your seminar be certain to summarize the main conclusions and provide the audience with the most significant point(s) from the seminar* (don't leave the audience wondering why they sat through the seminar)

Clarity

1) Speak clearly and 'speak up' - project your voice without shouting at your audience
2) State the objectives, hypotheses and rationale of study right at the start of the talk
3) Be certain to relate the seminar to the larger context (Can we predict something better because this study was conducted? Do have better knowledge of a basic pattern in nature?)
4) Your seminar should be understandable to a general audience (remember: you have read paper or done the research - the audience won't have the same degree of preparation as you)
5) Be certain that you understand the work yourself and do not use a word that you could not explain! (avoid "bafflegab", especially if you don't get it yourself).

Cold war

Meaning of Cold War

             At the end of the Second World War, relations between the USA and the USSR deteriorated, especially at Potsdam (July 1945) and Paris (1946). These two powers were rivals and the tension is called the Cold War. In Europe there was a little bloodshed but outside Europe there was more traditional warfare. (Korea, Cuba, Vietnam)

Origins of the Cold War

1. The Cold War began as a result of suspicious that the democratic west had about the USSR and vice versa.

After 1945 the USSR feared a Western invasion of her new satellites and the west feared the spread of Marxism.

2. Relations between the major powers got worse at the end of the Second World War

This occurred especially at Yalta (February 1945), Potsdam (July 1945) and Paris (1946). At Paris, Molotov refused to accept the west’s ideas about not taking reparations and about wanting free elections in Eastern Europe.

3. Germany was divided into four occupation zones:

1. Britain got the ruins
2. France got the wine
3. USA got scenery (Bavaria)
4. USSR gained the lion’s share and surrounded Berlin

Austria was also divided.

4. In 1946, Churchill at Foulton, Missouri said:

‘An iron curtain is descending on Europe extending from Stettin in the north to Trieste in the south.’

He nearly got it right. The metaphorical line that separates the communist east from the democratic west should not end at Trieste because although Yugoslavia was communist it was independent of the USSR (under Tito). The satellites = Bulgaria, Hungary, Rumania, Poland, Albania, Czechoslovakia and Eastern Germany.

5. Economic Origins

1. Official America anti-Soviet policy began with the Truman Doctrine (March 1947) where American aid was offered to European countries which bordered onto Communist countries. This was extended by the Marshall Plan (June 1947) which offered aid outside Europe. This was designed to stop the spread of Communism – called CONTAINMENT.
2. The USSR set up Comminform (Cominform) in September 1947, which Stalin said was a news agency, but really it was a means of Russifying the economic policies of the eastern blob countries.
3. In June 1948, the three western powers united their zones with a new deutschmark. This financial union was the forerunner of a political union (3 zones = West Germany).

6. The Arms Race

The USSR was annoyed not to know about America’s atom bomb (1945). The USSR gained the atom bomb in 1949 and both sides began to stockpile arms.

Beginning of world war 2

1. The Rearmament of Germany

German rearmament began after Hitler left 1932-4 Geneva Disarmament Conference, stating that as the powers would not disarm to his level, he would rearm Germany to their level. By 1935 rearmament was well underway. This involved conscription and munitions factories.

Rearmament alarmed the French who, feeling insecure, reinforced the Maginot line (built between 1929 and 1934). This was a line of steel and concrete fortifications stretching from Belgium to Switzerland and was called ‘a gate without a fence’ because Germany would be able to avoid it and invade France via Belgium. France remained passive without Britain’s support.

Britain was sympathetic towards Germany and even signed an Anglo German naval Treaty (June 1935) allowing Germany’s navy to be 35% of the size of the Royal Navy. Hitler used his new found arms to support Franco in the Spanish Civil War (1936-9) Hitler sent the Condor Legion of the Luftwaffe to bomb Guernica on 26^th April, 1937. Guernica was razed to the ground and Franco went on to conquer the Basque areas of Spain. Hitler had used Spain as a practise ground.

2. The Remilitarization of the Rhineland (1936)

Having broken the Treaty of Versailles once, Hitler risked doing it a second time by marching 30,000 troops into Cologne on 7^th March 1936. France, with 250,000 troops mobilised, remained passive because Britain would not support her. Britain took the view that Germany was ‘marching into her own back yard.’

To show that his remilitarization was popular, Hitler held a plebiscite, which showed that 98.8% were in favour. He went on to build his own defensive fortification, the Siegfried Line.

3. The Rome Berlin Axis (October 1936)

Originally Mussolini did not want to be Hitler’s ally and in 1935 talks were held with Britain and France at the Stresa Front, but these came to nothing when Anthony Eden of Britain threatened oil sanctions against Mussolini during the Abyssinian crisis. This caused the Rome-Berlin Axis in 1936. Mussolini and Hitler strengthened their alliance on two occasions

1. The Anti-Commintern Pact (November 1937) with Japan.
2. The Pact of Steel (May 1939).

4. Britain’s policy of Appeasement (May/June 1937 – March 1939)

Neville Chamberlain became British Prime Minister on 28^th May 1937, and followed the policy of appeasing Germany, believing that all Hitler wanted to do was unite German speaking people. In so doing, Hitler would break the Treaty of Versailles (28^th June 1919) but Chamberlain did not believe Hitler would cause war. Churchill disagreed, citing Mein Kampf (1924) where Hitler had written that Germany must regain lands ‘in the East … by the power of the sword.’

Chamberlain had misinterpreted Hitler’s aims. (We have the benefit of hindsight.)

5. The Anschluss with Austria (13^th March, 1938)

Austrian Fascists wanted to unite with Germany but Schuschnigg, the Austrian Chancellor, wanted Austria to be independent. He was unable to gain support from abroad (France and the Little Entente) so agreed to meet Hitler in Berlin. He was persuaded to accept Hitler’s henchman Seyss-Inquart as Minster of the Interior. Rioting in Vienna increased under Seyss-Inquart’s leadership and Schuschnigg resigned. Seyss-Inquart invited Hitler to assist him and on 13^th March, 1938 troops from the Wermacht entered Austria. In a plebiscite on the Anschluss a vote of 99.75% in favour was recorded. This was ‘rigged’ by biased questioning. Hitler made it seem that he had been invited into Austria, in fact he had incited the union.

6. Hitler Gained the Sudetenland (29^th September, 1938)

The Sudetenland was lost by Austria in the Treaty of St. Germain (10^th September 1919) and hereby Czechoslovakia gained 3 million German speaking people. After the Anschluss the Sudeten German leader, Konrad Henlein, demanded a union with Germany. Unable to receive help from France, the Czech Premier, Benes, mobilised alone. Fearing war, Chamberlain met Hitler on three occasions at Berchtesgaden, Godesburg and at Munich.

Munich Agreement (29^th September, 1938)

This was signed by Hitler, Mussolini, Chamberlain and Daladier. Benes was not present. It said:

1. Hitler could take the Sudetenland the following day without a plebiscite
2. Hungary and Poland could take border districts from Czechoslovakia
3. Britain and Germany would never go to war.

Chamberlain’s Reaction

On his return to England, Chamberlain announced that he had gained ‘peace with honour, peace in our time’. The majority rejoiced, except Churchill.

Hitler’s Reaction

In public Hitler seemed satisfied, but in private he exploded saying ‘that fellow Chamberlain has spoiled my entry into Prague.’

7. The Fall of Czechoslovakia (March 1939)

In March 1939, Hitler forced Lithuania to give him Memel where most people spoke German. So far Hitler had only taken German speaking territory, so Chamberlain could still appease Hitler. However, in March 1939, Hitler threatened to bomb Prague, so the Czechs surrendered. Chamberlain realised appeasement had failed, so he began to rearm Britain and guarantee peace in Poland.

8. Nazi-Soviet Pact (29^th August, 1939) – The Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact

By the summer of 1939, Hitler’s plans to invade Poland were complete. He realised that to invade Poland mighty cause Britain to attack him from the West but he was more concerned to avoid a Russian attack from the east. Therefore to avoid a war on two fronts, he arranged the Nazi-Soviet Pact, which said that if either country went to war the other would remain neutral.

Hitler gained the chance to invade Poland with a war on one front, if Britain supported Poland.

Stalin of USSR gained time to rearm in case Hitler attacked him later, and the chance to gain the eastern half of Poland. This would provide the USSR with a bufferzone.

9. German Invasion of Poland (1^st September, 1939)

German tanks invaded West Prussia and Posen on the 1^st September 1939 using blitzkrieg tactics. (This is a lightning, sudden attack co-ordinating air, then land forces). Chamberlain sent an ultimatum (a warning with a threat) saying that if Hitler did not withdraw from Poland by 11am, 3^rd September 1939, Britain would declare war. On 3^rd September, Britain, followed by France, declared war on Germany.

Beginning of world war 1

June 28 in Sarajevo

                   We'll start with the facts and work back: it may make it all the easier to understand how World War One actually happened.  The events of Julyand early August1914 are a classic case of "one thing led to another" - otherwise known as the treaty alliance system.

The explosive that was World War One had been long in the stockpiling; the spark was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914.

Ferdinand's death at the hands of the Black Hand, a Serbian nationalist secret society, set in train a mindlessly mechanical series of events that culminated in the world's first global war.

Austria-Hungary's Reaction

                   Austria-Hungary's reaction to the death of their heir (who was in any case not greatly beloved by the Emperor, Franz Josef, or his government) was three weeks in coming.  Arguing that the Serbian government was implicated in the machinations of the Black Hand (whether she was or not remains unclear, but it appears unlikely), the Austro-Hungarians opted to take the opportunity to stamp its authority upon the Serbians, crushing the nationalist movement there and cementing Austria-Hungary's influence in the Balkans.

It did so by issuing an ultimatum to Serbia which, in the extent of its demand that the assassins be brought to justice effectively nullified Serbia's sovereignty.  Sir Edward Grey, the British Foreign Secretary, was moved to comment that he had "never before seen one State address to another independent State a document of so formidable a character."

Austria-Hungary's expectation was that Serbia would reject the remarkably severe terms of the ultimatum, thereby giving her a pretext for launching a limited war against Serbia.

However, Serbia had long had Slavic ties with Russia, an altogether different proposition for Austria-Hungary.  Whilst not really expecting that Russia would be drawn into the dispute to any great extent other than through words of diplomatic protest, the Austro-Hungarian government sought assurances from her ally, Germany, that she would come to her aid should the unthinkable happen and Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary.

Germany readily agreed, even encouraged Austria-Hungary's warlike stance.  Quite why we'll come back to later.

One Thing Led to Another

So then, we have the following remarkable sequence of events that led inexorably to the 'Great War' - a name that had been touted even before the coming of the conflict.

• Austria-Hungary, unsatisfied with Serbia's response to her ultimatum (which in the event was almost entirely placatory: however her jibbing over a couple of minor clauses gave Austria-Hungary her sought-after cue) declared war on Serbia on 28 July 1914.
• Russia, bound by treaty to Serbia, announced mobilisation of its vast army in her defence, a slow process that would take around six weeks to complete.
• Germany, allied to Austria-Hungary by treaty, viewed the Russian mobilisation as an act of war against Austria-Hungary, and after scant warning declared war on Russia on 1 August.
• France, bound by treaty to Russia, found itself at war against Germany and, by extension, on Austria-Hungary following a German declaration on 3 August.  Germany was swift in invading neutral Belgium so as to reach Paris by the shortest possible route.
• Britain, allied to France by a more loosely worded treaty which placed a "moral obligation" upon her to defend France, declared war against Germany on 4 August.  Her reason for entering the conflict lay in another direction: she was obligated to defend neutral Belgium by the terms of a 75-year old treaty.  With Germany's invasion of Belgium on 4 August, and the Belgian King's appeal to Britain for assistance, Britain committed herself to Belgium's defence later that day.  Like France, she was by extension also at war with Austria-Hungary.
• With Britain's entry into the war, her colonies and dominions abroad variously offered military and financial assistance, and included Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and the Union of South Africa.
• United States President Woodrow Wilson declared a U.S. policy of absolute neutrality, an official stance that would last until 1917 when Germany's policy of unrestricted submarine warfare - which seriously threatened America's commercial shipping (which was in any event almost entirely directed towards the Allies led by Britain and France) - forced the U.S. to finally enter the war on 6 April 1917.
• Japan, honouring a military agreement with Britain, declared war on Germany on 23 August 1914.  Two days later Austria-Hungary responded by declaring war on Japan.
• Italy, although allied to both Germany and Austria-Hungary, was able to avoid entering the fray by citing a clause enabling it to evade its obligations to both.  In short, Italy was committed to defend Germany and Austria-Hungary only in the event of a 'defensive' war; arguing that their actions were 'offensive' she declared instead a policy of neutrality.  The following year, in May 1915, she finally joined the conflict by siding with the Allies against her two former allies

Air cars

          Have you been to the gas station this week? Considering that we live in a very mobile society, it's probably safe to assume that you have. While pumping gas, you've undoubtedly noticed how much the price of gas has soared in recent years. Gasoline which has been the main source of fuel for the history of cars, is becoming more and more expensive and impractical (especially from an environmental standpoint). These factors are leading car manufacturers to develop cars fueled by alternative energies. Two hybrid cars took to the road in 2000, and in three or four years fuel-cell-powered cars will roll onto the world's highways.

       While gasoline prices in the United States have not yet reached their highest point ($2.66/gallon in 1980), they have climbed steeply in the past two years. In 1999, prices rose by 30 percent, and from December 1999 to October 2000, prices rose an additional 20 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In Europe, prices are even higher, costing more than $4 in countries like England and the Netherlands. But cost is not the only problem with using gasoline as our primary fuel. It is also damaging to the environment, and since it is not a renewable resource, it will eventually run out. One possible alternative is the air-powered car.

          Air powered cars runs on compressed air instead of gasoline. This car is powered by a two cylinder compressed engine. This engine can run either on compressed air alone or act as an IC engine. Compressed air is stored in glass or fiber tanks at a pressure of 4351 psi

Agent oriented programming

              We need open architectures that continuously change and evolve to accommodate new components and meet new requirements. More and more software must operate on different platforms, without recompilation and with minimal assumptions about its operating systems and users. It must be robust, autonomous and proactive. These circumstances motivated the development of Agent Oriented Programming.

               The objective of Agent Oriented (AO) Technology is to build systems applicable to real world that can observe and act on changes in the environment. Such   systems must be able  to  behave rationally and autonomously in completion of their designated tasks. AO technology is an approach for building complex real time distributed applications. This technology is build on belief that  a computer system must be designed to exhibit rational goal directed behaviour similar to that of a human being. AO technology achieves this by building entities called agents which are purposeful reactive and communication based   and sometimes team oriented.

          There are different programming methods. Object Oriented Programming is the successor of Structured programming. Agent oriented programming can be seen as an improvement and extension of object oriented programming. Since the word “Programming” is attached it means that both concepts are close to the programming language and implementation level. The term “Agent-Oriented Programming” was introduced by  Shoham.  So this AOP is a fairly new programming paradigm that supports societal view of computation. In AOP objects known as agents interact to achieve individual goals. Agents can be autonomous entities, deciding their next step without the interference of a user, or they can be controllable, serving as mediatory between user and another agent.In AOP programming is performed at abstract level. Agent-Oriented Software Engineering is being described as a new paradigm for the research field of Software Engineering. But in order to become a new paradigm for the software industry, robust and easy-to-use methodologies and tools have to be developed. The term AOP was suggested by Shoham.

Aeronautical Communications

         The demand for making air traveling more 'pleasant, secure and productive for passengers is one of the winning factors for airlines and aircraft industry. Current trends are towards high data rate communication services, in particular Internet applications. In an aeronautical scenario global coverage is essential for providing continuous service. Therefore satellite communication becomes indispensable, and together with the ever increasing data rate requirements of applications, aeronautical satellite communication meets an expansive market.

            Wireless Cabin (IST -2001-37466) is looking into those radio access technologies to be transported via satellite to terrestrial backbones .  The project will provide UMTS services, W-LAN IEEE 802.11 b and Blue tooth to the cabin passengers. With the advent of new services a detailed investigation of the expected traffic is necessary in order to plan the needed capacities to fulfill the QoS demands. This paper will thus describe a methodology for the planning of such system.

            In the future, airliners will provide a variety of entertainment and communications equipment to the passenger. Since people are becoming more and more used to their own communications equipment, such as mobile phones and laptops with Internet connection, either through a network interface card or dial-in access through modems, business travelers will soon be demanding wireless access to communication services.

ADSL

            Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) is a technology that brings high bandwidth information to homes and small businesses over the existing 2 wire copper telephone lines. Since DSL works on the existing telephone infrastructure, DSL systems are considered a key means of opening the bottleneck in the of the existing telephone network, as telephone companies seek cost-effective ways of providing much higher speed to their customers. DSL is a technology that assumes digital data does not require change into analog form and back. This gives it two main advantages. Digital data is transmitted to your computer directly as digital data, and this allows the phone company to use a much wider bandwidth for transmitting it to you, thereby giving the user a huge boost in bandwidth compared to analog modems. Not only that, but DSL uses the existing phone line and in most cases does not require an additional phone line. The digital signal can be separated or filtered, so that some of the bandwidth can be used to transmit an analog signal so that normal telephone calls can be made while a computer is connected to the internet. This gives "always-on" Internet access and does not tie up the phone line. No more busy signals, no more dropped connections, and no more waiting for someone in the household to get off the phone.

            Because analog transmission only uses a small portion of the available amount of information that could be transmitted over copper wires, the maximum amount of data that you can receive using ordinary modems is about 56 Kbps (thousands of bits per second). With ISDN you can receive up to 128 Kbps. This shows that the ability of your computer to receive information is constrained by the fact that the telephone company filters information that arrives as digital data, puts it into analog form for your telephone line, and requires your modem to change it back into digital. In other words, the analog transmission between your home or business and the phone company is a bandwidth bottleneck. DSL however offers users a choice of speeds ranging from 144 Kbps to 1.5Mbps. This is 2.5 times to 25 times faster than a standard 56 Kbps dial-up modem. This digital service can be used to deliver bandwidth intensive applications like streaming audio/video, online games, application programs, telephone calling, video conferencing and other high-bandwidth services.