A geometric algorithm for an artificial life form based on anachronistic methods

Modern methods of spawning new technological motifs are not appropriate when it is desired to realize artificial life as an actual real world entity unto itself (Pattee 1995; Brooks 2006; Chalmers 1995). Many fundamental aspects of such a machine are absent in common methods, which generally lack methodologies of construction. In this paper we mix classical and modern studies in order to attempt to realize an artificial life form from first principles. A model of an algorithm is introduced, its methodology of construction is presented, and the fundamental source from which it sprang is discussed.

Searching for the perfect surface area normalizing term - a comparison of BET surface area-, geometric surface area- and mass-normalized dissolution rates of anorthite and biotite

Dissolution rates were calculated for a range of grain sizes of anorthite and biotite dissolved under far from equilibrium conditions at pH 3, T = 20 degrees C. Dissolution rates were normalized to initial and final BET surface area, geometric surface area, mass and (for biotite only) geometric edge surface area. Constant (within error) dissolution rates were only obtained by normalizing to initial BET surface area for biotite. The normalizing term that gave the smallest variation about the mean for anorthite was initial BET surface area. In field studies, only current (final) surface area is measurable. In this study, final geometric surface area gave the smallest variation for anorthite dissolution rates and final geometric edge surface area for biotite dissolution rates. (c) 2005 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Metacognitive experience and transfer of logical reasoning

The experiments examine the influence of metacognitive experience on the transfer of logical processes in a problem solving setting. Subjects were presented with two versions of Wason's (1966) selection task. Although they were able to perform successfully on the concrete tasks (following a minimal explanation of the correct solution on an initial trial), the majority were not able to transfer a successful method to the abstract tasks. Verbalization during, or following, the concrete tasks produced substantial transfer effects however. It is suggested that verbalization may lead to an increased awareness of past behaviour, particularly of those aspects necessary for successful solution.

A geometric approach to generalized Stokes conjectures

We consider the Stokes conjecture concerning the shape of extreme two-dimensional water waves. By new geometric methods including a nonlinear frequency formula, we prove the Stokes conjecture in the original variables. Our results do not rely on structural assumptions needed in previous results such as isolated singularities, symmetry and monotonicity. Part of our results extends to the mathematical problem in higher dimensions.

“So the big rocks we put in the jar”: using situated reasoning to coordinate design activity

Ways in which situated reasoning featured in the course of action in the setting of a pair-programming software design exercise is examined, and how interactionally design was accomplished as a coordinated activity in situ.

On the use of geometric moments to examine the continuum of sudden stratospheric warmings

The polar winter stratospheric vortex is a coherent structure that undergoes different types of deformation that can be revealed by the geometric invariant moments. Three moments are used—the aspect ratio, the centroid latitude, and the area of the vortex based on stratospheric data from the 40-yr ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-40) project—to study sudden stratospheric warmings. Hierarchical clustering combined with data image visualization techniques is used as well. Using the gap statistic, three optimal clusters are obtained based on the three geometric moments considered here. The 850-K potential vorticity field, as well as the vertical profiles of polar temperature and zonal wind, provides evidence that the clusters represent, respectively, the undisturbed (U), displaced (D), and split (S) states of the polar vortex. This systematic method for identifying and characterizing the state of the polar vortex using objective methods is useful as a tool for analyzing observations and as a test for climate models to simulate the observations. The method correctly identifies all previously identified major warmings and also identifies significant minor warmings where the atmosphere is substantially disturbed but does not quite meet the criteria to qualify as a major stratospheric warming.

Surface based hypothesis verification in intensity images using geometric and appearance data

In this paper we discuss current work concerning Appearance-based and CAD-based vision; two opposing vision strategies. CAD-based vision is geometry based, reliant on having complete object centred models. Appearance-based vision builds view dependent models from training images. Existing CAD-based vision systems that work with intensity images have all used one and zero dimensional features, for example lines, arcs, points and corners. We describe a system we have developed for combining these two strategies. Geometric models are extracted from a commercial CAD library of industry standard parts. Surface appearance characteristics are then learnt automatically by observing actual object instances. This information is combined with geometric information and is used in hypothesis evaluation. This augmented description improves the systems robustness to texture, specularities and other artifacts which are hard to model with geometry alone, whilst maintaining the advantages of a geometric description.