POMDP-based statistical spoken dialog systems: A review

Statistical dialog systems (SDSs) are motivated by the need for a data-driven framework that reduces the cost of laboriously handcrafting complex dialog managers and that provides robustness against the errors created by speech recognizers operating in noisy environments. By including an explicit Bayesian model of uncertainty and by optimizing the policy via a reward-driven process, partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs) provide such a framework. However, exact model representation and optimization is computationally intractable. Hence, the practical application of POMDP-based systems requires efficient algorithms and carefully constructed approximations. This review article provides an overview of the current state of the art in the development of POMDP-based spoken dialog systems. © 1963-2012 IEEE.

银鲫卵对两类精核发育的初级控制作用模式的研究

通过对银鲫(雌核发育型)和红鲤、红鲫、转性红鲤(两性融合发育型)两类精子在雌核发育银鲫卵中的不同发育行为的比较研究,初步证实银鲫卵的初级控制对精核发育的抑制作用具有选择性:对同源精子,初级控制呈负抑制作用模式,精核可以在银鲫卵中不同程度的发育;而对异源精子,初级控制呈正抑制作用模式,精核处于固缩状态.两类精核在银鲫卵质中的特殊发育行为可能与银鲫种群中性比的变化存在着某种关系,雄性银鲫的出现可能与“精核遗传物质”的随机渗入有关。

Scalar gradient behaviour in MILD combustion

The results of three-dimensional Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) of Moderate, Intense Low-oxygen Dilution (MILD) and conventional premixed turbulent combustion conducted using a skeletal mechanism including the effects of non-unity Lewis numbers and temperature dependent transport properties are analysed to investigate combustion characteristics using scalar gradient information. The DNS data is also used to synthesise laser induced fluorescence (LIF) signals of OH, CH2O, and CHO. These signals are analysed to verify if they can be used to study turbulent MILD combustion and it has been observed that at least two (OH and CH2O) LIF signals are required since the OH increase across the reaction zone is smaller in MILD combustion compared to premixed combustion. The scalar gradient PDFs conditioned on the reaction rate obtained from the DNS data and synthesised LIF signals suggests a strong gradient in the direction normal to the MILD reaction zone with moderate reaction rate implying flamelet combustion. However, the PDF of the normal gradient is as broad as for the tangential gradient when the reaction rate is high. This suggests a non-flamelet behaviour, which is due to interaction of reaction zones. The analysis of the conditional PDFs for the premixed case confirms the expected behaviour of scalar gradient in flamelet combustion. It has been shown that the LIF signals synthesised using 2D slices of DNS data also provide very similar insights. These results demonstrate that the so-called flameless combustion is not an idealised homogeneous reactive mixture but has common features of conventional combustion while containing distinctive characteristics. © 2013 The Combustion Institute.

CO2-gasification of a lignite coal in the presence of an iron-based oxygen carrier for chemical-looping combustion

Chemical-looping combustion (CLC) has the inherent property of separating the product CO2 from flue gases. Instead of air, it uses an oxygen carrier, usually in the form of a metal oxide, to provide oxygen for combustion. All techniques so far proposed for chemical looping with solid fuels involve initially the gasification of the solid fuel in order for the gaseous products to react with the oxygen carrier. Here, the rates of gasification of coal were compared when gasification was undertaken in a fluidised bed of either (i) an active Fe-based oxygen carrier used for chemical looping or (ii) inert sand. This enabled an examination of the ability of chemical looping materials to enhance the rate of gasification of solid fuels. Batch gasification and chemical-looping combustion experiments with a German lignite and its char are reported, using an electrically-heated fluidised bed reactor at temperatures from 1073 to 1223 K. The fluidising gas was CO2 in nitrogen. The kinetics of the gasification were found to be significantly faster in the presence of the oxygen carrier, especially at temperatures above 1123 K. A numerical model was developed to account for external and internal mass transfer and for the effect of the looping agent. The model also included the effects of the evolution of the pore structure at different conversions. The presence of Fe2O3 led to an increase in the rate of gasification because of the rapid oxidation of CO by the oxygen carrier to CO2. This resulted in the removal of CO and maintained a higher mole fraction of CO2 in the mixture of gas around the particle of char, i.e. within the mass transfer boundary layer surrounding the particle. This effect was most prominent at about 20% conversion when (i) the surface area for reaction was at its maximum and (ii) because of the accompanying increase in porosity and pore size, intraparticle resistance to gas mass transfer within the particle of char had fallen, compared with that in the initial particle. Excellent agreement was observed between the rates predicted by the numerical model and those observed experimentally. ©2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The first non-mammalian CXCR3 in a teleost fish: Gene and expression in blood cells and central nervous system in the grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella)

A novel fish chemokine receptor gene, chemokine (C-X-C motif) receptor 3 (CXCR3)-like was isolated from the grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella , with its full-length genomic sequence. The cDNA of grass carp CXCR3-like (gcCXCR3-like) consists of 1261 bp with a 49bp 5'-UTR and a 189 bp 3'-UTR. An open reading frame of 1023 bp encodes a 341-amino acid peptide, with seven transmembrane helices. The deduced amino acid sequence showed the same sequence identities (37.8%) with its counterparts in goat and human. The gcCXCR3-like gene consists of two exons, with one intervening intron, spaced over approximately 2 kb of genomic sequence. Phylogenetic analyses clearly demonstrated that the gcCXCR3-like resembles the CXCR3s of other vertebrates. Real-time PCR analysis showed that gcCXCR3-like was expressed in all tested organs except heart and the expression level of gcCXCR3-like was highest in brain. Flow cytometric analyses showed the positive rate of labelled leukocytes from the healthy grass carp was 17.3%, and the labelled leukocytes were divided into three types by cell sorting. Immunohistochemical localization revealed that gcCXCR3-like expressed in whole brain regions including cerebel, diencephalon, medulla oblongata, optic lobe, and rhinencephalon, and that the labelled leukocytes are actually populations of monocyte and/or phagocyte, lymphocyte and the granulocyte. It is considered that fish CXCR expression and their function may need to be investigated in both nervous and immune systems. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Photoluminescence energy and fine structure splitting in single quantum dots by uniaxial stress

We report a photoluminescence (PL) energy red-shift of single quantum dots (QDs) by applying an in-plane compressive uniaxial stress along the [110] direction at a liquid nitrogen temperature. Uniaxial stress has an effect not only on the confinement potential in the growth direction which results in the PL shift, but also on the cylindrical symmetry of QDs which can be reflected by the change of the full width at half maximum of PL peak. This implies that uniaxial stress has an important role in tuning PL energy and fine structure splitting of QDs.

Influence of V/III ratio on the structural and photoluminescence properties of In0.52AlAs/In0.53GaAs metamorphic high electron mobility transistor grown by molecular beam epitaxy

A series of metamorphic high electron mobility transistors (MMHEMTs) with different V/III flux ratios are grown on GaAs (001) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (XIBE). The samples are analysed by using atomic force microscopy (AFM), Hall measurement, and low temperature photoluminescence (PL). The optimum V/III ratio in a range from 15 to 60 for the growth of MMHEMTs is found to be around 40. At this ratio, the root mean square (RMS) roughness of the material is only 2.02 nm; a room-temperature mobility and a sheet electron density are obtained to be 10610.0cm(2)/(V.s) and 3.26 x 10(12)cm(-2) respectively. These results are equivalent to those obtained for the same structure grown on InP substrate. There are two peaks in the PL spectrum of the structure, corresponding to two sub-energy levels of the In0.53Ga0.47 As quantum well. It is found that the photoluminescence intensities of the two peaks vary with the V/III ratio, for which the reasons are discussed.

Numerical study of sub-wavelength plasmonic waveguide

The authors present an analysis of a plasmonic waveguide, simulated using a two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain technique. With the surface structures located on the surface of the metal, the device is able to confine and guide light waves in a sub-wavelength scale. And two waveguides can be placed within 150 nm (similar to 6% of the incident wavelength) that will helpful for the optoelectronic integration. Within the 20 mu m simulation region, it is found that the intensity of the guided light at the interface is roughly two to four times the peak intensity of the incident light, and the propagation length can reach approximately 40 Pm at the wavelength of 2.44 mu m. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Optical spectra and exciton state in vertically stacked self-assembled quantum discs

We study the oscillator strengths of the optical transitions of the vertically stacked self-assembled InAs quantum discs. The oscillator strengths change evidently when the two quantum discs are far apart from each other. A vertically applied electric held affects the oscillator strengths severely, while the oscillator strengths change slowly as the radius of one disc increases. We also studied the excitonic energy of the system, including the Coulomb interaction. The excitonic energy increases with the increasing radius of one disc, but decreases as a vertically applied electric field increases.

多级安全OS与DBMS模型的信息流及其一致性分析

数据库安全与操作系统安全密不可分,如果多级安全DBMS的安全策略不违反OS的安全策略,那么可以使用多级安全OS的安全机制来实现DBMS的部分安全功能,如强制访问控制.信息流分析使我们能更好地理解安全策略的意义和内容.该文给出了多级安全OS模型和以该模型为基础的多级安全DBMS模型,首次详细分析了它们在强制访问控制策略下的信息流集合.经过主客体的映射后,证明了数据库与操作系统的信息流集合是一致的,这个结论保证了利用OS的机制来实现DBMS的强制访问控制的合理性.

改进的最小空闲时间优先调度算法

最小空闲时间优先(least slack first,简称LSF)算法结合任务执行的缓急程度来给任务分配优先级.任务所剩的空闲时间越少,就越需要尽快执行.然而,LSF算法造成任务之间的频繁切换或严重的颠簸现象,增大了系统开销,并限制了其应用.在调度策略中设置抢占阈值可以减少任务之间的切换,但现有的抢占阈值设置方法因受到固定优先级的限制而不适用于LSF算法.为了减轻LSF算法的颠簸现象,基于抢占阈值的思想,提出适用于LSF算法的抢占阈值分配方法,动态地给每个任务配置抢占阈值.任务的抢占阈值是随着任务执行的缓急程度不同而动态地变化的,而且不受任务个数的限制.仿真结果表明,通过对LSF算法的改进,任务之间的切换大大减少,同时降低了任务截止期错失率.该改进型算法对设计和实现实时操作系统具有一定的参考价值.

游泳池太阳能加温的原理和试验

冬天，一般适于游泳的最低水温为20℃，但较合适的水温还是25～26℃。这种温度即使气候暖和的广东，从10月份起到次年4月份，池水温度都不能满足要求，因此人们被迫花较高的费用用常规燃料加热池水进行冬泳。我们知道，广州地区的月平均最低水温是14.4℃，出现在一月份。在整个冬天一般均在15°～18℃左右变动，这与适宜游泳的温度差是较小的，恰恰从10月到次年2月，广东地区阳