IMPROVING THE FUNCTIONING RELIABILITY OF THE INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ELEMENTS, USING BUILT-IN DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS

Context. In the modern world, information management systems have become widespread. This make it possible to automate the technological processes of enterprises of various sizes. Many information management systems include wireless and autonomous elements. Autonomy, in this case, means the ability of the system elements to function for a certain time without additional energy supply. In this regard, such a parameter of operational reliability as the battery life of a system element becomes one of the most important. One of the main tools for improving the reliability and fault tolerance of information management system elements – is the use of a modern diagnostic system. Objective. The aim of the work is to develop a method for increasing the reliability of the functioning of autonomous elements of information management systems. It includes the creation of a model of an information management system and an algorithm for reasonable redistribution of diagnostic functions, as well as a software implementation of the developed algorithm, which confirms its higher reliability indicators in comparison with other algorithms. Methods. The basic model was the Preparata-Metz-Chen model. On its basis, a new model of the system was built, including the structural and logical description of the elements and the determination of the way of their interaction. The elements were classified by the degree of criticality of the functions performed in the system. On the basis of the developed model and description of the elements, an algorithm was developed for the reasonable redistribution of the diagnostic load, which made it possible to reduce the average energy consumption of the elements and thereby improve the reliability indicators. A software implementation of the developed algorithm was created, which allows to numerically evaluate its advantages. The developed and existing algorithms were compared. Results. A model of information management system has been developed. In such a system, it is proposed to use an integrated test diagnostics system. This diagnostic system implements algorithms for redistributing the diagnostic load. To determine the importance of the characteristics taken into account, a linear criterion was chosen, as the most studied and fastest in application. A software model, that implements the developed algorithm and makes it possible to compare it with existing algorithms, has been developed. A study of the software model with various parameters was carried out and, based on the results of the software simulation, conclusions were drawn about the possibilities of improving the algorithm and directions for further scientific research were formulated. Conclusions. The usage of the developed algorithm makes it possible to increase such a characteristic of the reliability of the elements of the information and control system as the mean time of failure-free operation (mean time between failures) by increasing the operating time of autonomous elements without recharging. When carrying out software modeling of the developed and existing algorithms, the advantages of the first were confirmed, and theoretical possibilities for its improvement were formulated.

What are You Lookin’ at? Aerial and Space Observation for Arms Control

Effective arms control between rival states requires reconciling three autonomous elements simultaneously: a) politics—the substantive agreement about what military items and activities will be restricted or prohibited; b) technology—the means and methods to monitor compliance with those negotiated limitations; and c) law—the rights and obligations that enable effective international use of the designated verification capabilities. Each of these three variables changes over time; the history of arms control reveals the difficulty of keeping them in sync as international conditions evolve. Today, we are in a period of remarkably rapid revolution regarding all three factors—particularly evident in the air and space domains—which will generate exciting new opportunities and require negotiators to be extraordinarily deft and responsive. This essay reviews some illustrative prior state practice in arms control in harmonizing the three variables and speculates about future adaptations.

Trust Strategies in Consumer Multiple-Component Systems

Trust is a critical factor in successful and productive human-automation interactions. Human trust in machines is sensitive to machine performance. When automation malfunctions, trust is negatively affected. The development of increasingly complex multiple-component systems, or those with several autonomous elements, introduces even more ways for a system to err. One example is in smart home control systems where different subsystems may be controlled by different autonomous routines or rules. Multiple studies suggest that one error-prone component can lower user trust in the remaining components. This has been termed a “pull down effect.” Other research suggests that increasing the amount of information presented to the user can reduce the strength of the pull down effect by promoting heterogeneity of components. Although a majority of this research has been tested in the industrial domain, there exist certain types of information that are best suited for consumer automation (e.g., granting the automation a name and a voice). Providing this kind of information to the user may diminish the strength of the pull down effect. Thus, the current study will investigate the effectiveness of trust-preserving heterogeneity strategies in consumer multiple-component systems.

Mobilization of Pack-CACTA transposons in Arabidopsis reveals the mechanism of gene shuffling

Pack-TYPE transposons are a unique class of potentially mobile non-autonomous elements that can capture, merge and relocate fragments of chromosomal DNA. It has been postulated that their activity accelerates the evolution of host genes. However, this important presumption is based only on the sequences of currently inactive Pack-TYPE transposons and the acquisition of chromosomal DNA has not been recorded in real time. We have now for the first time witnessed the mobilization of novel Pack-TYPE elements related to the CACTA transposon family over several plant generations. Remarkably, these elements tend to insert into genes as closely spaced direct repeats and they frequently undergo incomplete excisions, resulting in the deletion of one of the end sequences. These properties constitute a mechanism of efficient acquisition of genic DNA residing between neighbouring Pack-TYPE transposons and its subsequent mobilization. Our work documents crucial steps in the formation in vivo of novel Pack-TYPE transposons and thus the mechanism of gene shuffling mediated by this type of mobile element.

Mies van der Rohe: Cuba 1957 - Berlin 1968. Il compimento della “nuova” arte del costruire | Mies van der Rohe: Cuba 1957 - Berlin 1968. The fulfillment of the “new” art of building

L’arte del costruire (Baukunst) del nostro tempo trova fondamento nella ricerca di una nuova forma di composizione dei differenti autonomi elementi costruttivo/figurativi, nei quali risulta originariamente frammentata e stratificata: l’elemento plastico murario, che si occupa della fondazione del suolo, come massa stereotomica topograficamente modellata in rapporto alla conformazione del luogo; l’elemento propriamente tettonico della struttura di sostegno del riparo, strettamente riferibile ai procedimenti di montaggio di elementi finiti; l’elemento, portatore di motivi tessili, dell’involucro che dà forma allo spazio interno: pura superficie di rivestimento (Bekleidung) tendente alla smaterializzazione. Questi elementi si sono definiti attraverso un lungo processo di formazione, a partire dalla radicale revisione teorica delle tradizionali categorie tettoniche, nel corso dell’Ottocento. Essi sembrano trovare compimento nell’ultima fase della ricerca miesiana della “nuova” arte del costruire, nel progetto della Halle monumentale per Cuba/Berlin (1957-68).KEYWORDS: Mies van der Rohe; tettonica; spazio; struttura; costruzione; Baukunst.The art of building (Baukunst) of our time is founded on the search of a new kind of composition of different autonomous elements, in which it was originally fragmented and stratified: the plastic masonry element of the earthwork, as a stereotomic, topographic mass, closely related to the specific site; the properly tectonic element of the light carpentry framework/roofwork, largely connected to the rational modularity of assembly technique; the dematerialized element of spatial enclosure, as textile cladding surface: the pure dressing (Bekleidung). These elements have been defined through a long form-giving process, started with the radical nineteenth-century theoretical review of traditional tectonic categories. The same elements seem to reach their fulfillment in the last phase of Mies’ research on the “new” art of building: the project for a monumental Halle in Santiago de Cuba, finally built in Berlin (1957-68).KEYWORDS: Mies van der Rohe; tectonics; space; structure; construction; Baukunst.

The major synthetic evolutionary transitions

Evolution is marked by well-defined events involving profound innovations that are known as ‘major evolutionary transitions'. They involve the integration of autonomous elements into a new, higher-level organization whereby the former isolated units interact in novel ways, losing their original autonomy. All major transitions, which include the origin of life, cells, multicellular systems, societies or language (among other examples), took place millions of years ago. Are these transitions unique, rare events? Have they instead universal traits that make them almost inevitable when the right pieces are in place? Are there general laws of evolutionary innovation? In order to approach this problem under a novel perspective, we argue that a parallel class of evolutionary transitions can be explored involving the use of artificial evolutionary experiments where alternative paths to innovation can be explored. These ‘synthetic’ transitions include, for example, the artificial evolution of multicellular systems or the emergence of language in evolved communicating robots. These alternative scenarios could help us to understand the underlying laws that predate the rise of major innovations and the possibility for general laws of evolved complexity. Several key examples and theoretical approaches are summarized and future challenges are outlined. This article is part of the themed issue ‘The major synthetic evolutionary transitions’.

Cut and paste pictures in surrealism

Proceeding from the idea of the readymade, Marko Ristic?s, Vane Bor?s and Dusan Matic?s collages regroup readymade pictorial and textual matrices according to the rules of free associative syntax. Everything that they collected cut out and pasted bears the hallmark of personal choice, i.e. objective chance, as the Surrealists would say. In the new structure of the collage, picture and text were of equal importance. However, we should not forget that both picture and text were only fragments, of different origin so that they could not function as autonomous elements in their own right nor could they establish logical interlinks. Cut and paste picture in Surrealism are primarily registered as visual wholes, in which the former principle of harmony has been substituted by the principle of discontinuity. In fact, they do not aspire to establish closed and unambiguous semantic structures either on a single paper or within a cycle, disregarding as they do conventional narrative and illustrative order in representing reality.

Genome-Wide Analysis of mariner-Like Transposable Elements in Rice Reveals Complex Relationships With Stowaway Miniature Inverted Repeat Transposable Elements (MITEs)

Stowaway is a superfamily of miniature inverted repeat transposable elements (MITEs) that is widespread and abundant in plant genomes. Like other MITEs, however, its origin and mode of amplification are poorly understood. Several lines of evidence point to plant mariner-like elements (MLEs) as the autonomous partners of the nonautonomous Stowaway MITEs. To better understand this relationship, we have taken advantage of the nearly complete genome sequences of two rice subspecies to generate the first inventory of virtually all MLEs and Stowaway families coexisting in a single plant species. Thirty-four different MLEs were found to group into three major clades and 25 families. More than 22,000 Stowaway MITEs were identified and classified into 36 families. On the basis of detailed sequence comparisons, MLEs were confirmed to be the best candidate autonomous elements for Stowaway MITEs. Surprisingly, however, sequence similarity between MLE and Stowaway families was restricted to the terminal inverted repeats (TIRs) and, in a few cases, to adjacent subterminal sequences. These data suggest a model whereby most of the Stowaway MITEs in rice were cross-mobilized by MLE transposases encoded by distantly related elements.

Homogeneity in the structure of the medaka fish transposable element Tol2

The hAT family is a group of transposable elements of the terminal inverted repeat class, which includes Ac of maize, hobo of Drosophila and Tam3 of Antirrhinum (snapdragon). All the members of this family so far examined are known to comprise complete and defective copies, with a good correspondence to autonomous and non-autonomous elements, respectively. Internal deletion is the most common cause of defective copies. Tol2, a transposable element of the medaka fish Oryzias latipes, is a member of the hAT family. We examined, mainly by the genomic Southern blot analysis, variation in the structure of copies of this element, and revealed that there are few or no internally deleted copies. This situation is unusual in a member of the hAT family. Possible causes of this anomaly are discussed.