Complexity theory and collaboration: An agent-based simulator for a space mission design team

In this paper, we investigate how complexity theory can benefit collaboration by applying an agent-based computer simulation approach to a new form of synchronous real-time collaborative engineering design. Fieldwork was conducted with a space mission design team during their actual design sessions, to collect data on their group conversations, team interdependencies, and error monitoring and recovery practices. Based on the fieldwork analysis, an agent-based simulator was constructed. The simulation shows how error recovery and monitoring is affected by the number of small group, or sidebar, conversations, and consequent noise in the room environment. This simulation shows that it is possible to create a virtual environment with cooperating agents interacting in a dynamic environment. This simulation approach is useful for identifying the best scenarios and eliminating potential catastrophic combinations of parameters and values, where error recovery and workload in collaborative engineering design could be significantly impacted. This approach is also useful for defining strategies for integrating solutions into organizations. Narjès Bellamine-Ben Saoud is an Associate Professor at the University of Tunis and Researcher at RIADI-GDL Laboratory, Tunisia. After Computer Science engineering diploma (1993) of the ENSEEIHT of Toulouse, France, she received her PhD (1996), on groupware design applied to the study of cooperation within a space project, from the University of Toulouse I, France. Her main research interests concern studying complex systems particularly by modeling and simulating collaborative and socio-technical systems; developing Computer Supported Collaborative Learning in tunisian primary schools; and Software Engineering. Her current reserach projects include modeling and simulation of emergency rescue activities for large-scale accidents, modeling of epidemics and study of malaria, simulation of collabration artifacts. Gloria Mark is an Associate Professor in the Department of Informatics, University of California, Irvine. Dr. Mark received her Ph.D. in Psychology from Columbia University in 1991. Prior to UCI, she was a Research Scientist at the GMD, in Bonn, Germany, a visiting research scientist at the Boeing Company, and a research scientist at the Electronic Data Systems Center for Advanced Research. Dr. Mark’s research focuses on the design and evaluation of collaborative systems. Her current projects include studying worklife in the network-centric organization, multi-tasking of information workers, nomad workers, and a work in a large-scale medical collaboratory. Dr. Mark is widely published in the fields of CSCW and HCI, is currently the program co-chair for the ACM CSCW’06 conference and is on the editorial board of Computer Supported Cooperative Work: The Journal of Collaborative Computing, and e-Service Qu@rterly.     

The Equilibrium Partial Pressure of HgI2 over and Thermodynamic Properties of Hg3Te2I2 1)

The high temperature vaporization pattern of Hg₃Te₂I₂(s,l) shows four distinctly different regimes, similar to those of the HgTe vaporization. The most predominant species in the vapor phase in all four regimes is HgI₂(g), followed by Hg(g) and, possibly, Te₂I₂(g). The width of the “homogeneity range” of Hg₃Te₂I₂(s) was determined to be less than about 0.17 mole‐% HgI₂. Applying the second‐law method to the vaporization of HgTe‐saturated Hg₃Te₂I₂(s) at higher temperatures yields the heat and entropy of vaporization of 20.9 ± 2.3 (kcal/mole) and of 27.5 ± 2.8 (cal/mole K), respectively, with estimated total uncertainties of less than ± 5.8 (kcal/mole) and ± 7.6 (cal/mole K), at an average temperature of 722 K. With an estimated heat capacity function of Hg₃Te₂I₂(s) and estimated thermodynamic values for HgI₂‐saturated HgTe(s), the heat of formation and absolute entropy of Hg₃Te₂I₂(s) are computed to be = ?49.7 ± 1.1 (kcal/mole) and = 97.3 ± 1.4 (cal/mole K), with estimated total uncertainties of ± 8.3 (kcal/mole) and ± 14.0 (cal/mole K). The combined results of this investigation provide valuable information for the crystal growth of this material from the vapor and molten phase.     

Synthesis and characterization of fillers of controlled structure based on polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane cages and their use in reinforcing siloxane elastomers

Four polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) cages with vinyl groups were linked to a central siloxane core by hydrosilylation. The goal was to obtain filler particles of sizes between those of the POSS cages themselves and the much larger silica particles typically used to reinforce elastomers. The hydrosilylation reaction was monitored with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and proton nuclear magnetic resonance, and the resulting structure was confirmed by mass spectrometry. Simply blending these POSS-based fillers into silanol-terminated poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) had little effect on the mechanical properties, but bonding them to PDMS provided considerable reinforcement. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 3314–3323, 2003     

Solvability of the Direct and Inverse Problems for the Nonlinear Schrödinger Equation

In this paper we study rigorous spectral theory and solvability for both the direct and inverse problems of the Dirac operator associated with the nonlinear Schrödinger equation. We review known results and techniques, as well as incorporating new ones, in a comprehensive, unified framework. We identify functional spaces in which both direct and inverse problems are well posed, have a unique solution and the corresponding direct and inverse maps are one to one.Mathematics Subject Classifications (2000) 34A55, 35Q55.     

Synthesis and structure of dinitroazofurazan

The synthesis of dinitroazofurazan ( 3 ) was achieved from readily available diaminofurazan ( 6 ) in two steps and 20% overall yield. The structure of the energetic material 3 was unequivocally confirmed by X-ray crystallography and found to have a crystal density of 1.742 g/cm³.     

Schematization of networks

We study the problem of computing schematized versions of network maps, like railroad or highway maps. Every path of the schematized map has two or three links with restricted orientations, and the schematized map must be topologically equivalent to the input map. Our approach can handle several types of schematizations, and certain additional constraints can be added, such as a minimum vertical distance between two paths. Our algorithm runs in O(nlogn) time, and experimental results showing the quality of the output are given.     

Electrosteric stability of styrene/acrylic acid copolymer latices under emulsion polymerization reaction conditions

Acrylic acid (AA) is used in many emulsion polymerization formulations to improve the colloidal stability during and after the production of latex products. Theoretically, the improved stability originates from electrostatic repulsion complemented with steric repulsion. The objective of this work was to study the contribution of AA to the colloidal stability of polystyrene and styrene/AA copolymer latices under simulated reaction conditions. The strength of electrostatic and steric repulsion forces as a function of the electrolyte concentration, pH, and temperature was investigated via coagulation experiments with monomer‐swollen latices in stirred tank reactors. Transmission electron microscopy pictures and dynamic light scattering measurements provided an understanding of the conditions and mechanisms leading to coagulation. The experiments demonstrated that the presence of surface‐bound carboxylic groups only improved the colloidal stability if the carboxylic groups were charged, that is, at a high pH. At a low pH, the copolymer latices were even less stable than the homopolymer latex, and this indicated that the addition of AA did not improve the colloidal stability of a growing polystyrene latex. With respect to emulsion polymerization process operations, insufficient mixing and a highly concentrated electrolyte feed were found to be sources of fouling and enhanced macroscopic coagulation. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 43: 726–732, 2005     

Interference Patterns of Two Focused Gaussian Beams in an LDA Measuring Volume

Based on a model of spherical Gaussian beam interference, the fringe spacing variations in the measuring volume of a differential LDA system are analysed and the fringe patterns are obtained for different locations of beam waists. It is found that when the incident beams are sharply focused and a large beam cross-angle is used to obtain high spatial resolution, fringe gradients occur along both the x- and z-directions, even though the incident beams intersect at their waists. When the measuring volume is very small, the measurement accuracy of an LDA is limited by inherent fringe gradients mainly along the z-direction. © 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.