A modified reduced-order method for RC networks which takes a division-and-conquest strategy is presented.The whole network is partitioned into a set of sub-networks at first,then each of them is reduced by Krylov sub...A modified reduced-order method for RC networks which takes a division-and-conquest strategy is presented.The whole network is partitioned into a set of sub-networks at first,then each of them is reduced by Krylov subspace techniques,and finally all the reduced sub-networks are incorporated together.With some accuracy,this method can reduce the number of both nodes and components of the circuit comparing to the traditional methods which usually only offer a reduced net with less nodes.This can markedly accelerate the sparse-matrix-based simulators whose performance is dominated by the entity of the matrix or the number of components of the circuits.展开更多
To cope with the constraint problem of power consumption and transmission delay in the virtual backbone of wireless sensor network, a distributed connected dominating set (CDS) algorithm with (α,β)-constraints i...To cope with the constraint problem of power consumption and transmission delay in the virtual backbone of wireless sensor network, a distributed connected dominating set (CDS) algorithm with (α,β)-constraints is proposed. Based on the (α, β)-tree concept, a new connected dominating tree with bounded transmission delay problem(CDTT) is defined and a corresponding algorithm is designed to construct a CDT-tree which can trade off limited total power and bounded transmission delay from source to destination nodes. The CDT algorithm consists of two phases: The first phase constructs a maximum independent set(MIS)in a unit disk graph model. The second phase estimates the distance and calculates the transmission power to construct a spanning tree in an undirected graph with different weights for MST and SPF, respectively. The theoretical analysis and simulation results show that the CDT algorithm gives a correct solution to the CDTF problem and forms a virtual backbone with( α,β)-constraints balancing the requirements of power consumption and transmission delay.展开更多
The cellular neural/nonlinear network (CNN) is a powerful tool for image and video signal processing,robotic and biological visions. This paper discusses a general method for designing template of the global connectiv...The cellular neural/nonlinear network (CNN) is a powerful tool for image and video signal processing,robotic and biological visions. This paper discusses a general method for designing template of the global connectivitydetection (GCD) CNN, which provides parameter inequalities for determining parameter intervals for implementing thecorresponding functions. The GCD CNN has stronger ability and faster rate for determining global connectivity in binarypatterns than the GCD CNN proposed by Zarandy. An example for detecting the connectivity in complex patterns isgiven.展开更多
In typical Wi-Fi based indoor positioning systems employing fingerprint model,plentiful fingerprints need to be trained by trained experts or technician,which extends labor costs and restricts their promotion.In this ...In typical Wi-Fi based indoor positioning systems employing fingerprint model,plentiful fingerprints need to be trained by trained experts or technician,which extends labor costs and restricts their promotion.In this paper,a novel approach based on crowd paths to solve this problem is presented,which collects and constructs automatically fingerprints database for anonymous buildings through common crowd customers.However,the accuracy degradation problem may be introduced as crowd customers are not professional trained and equipped.Therefore,we define two concepts:fixed landmark and hint landmark,to rectify the fingerprint database in the practical system,in which common corridor crossing points serve as fixed landmark and cross point among different crowd paths serve as hint landmark.Machinelearning techniques are utilized for short range approximation around fixed landmarks and fuzzy logic decision technology is applied for searching hint landmarks in crowd traces space.Besides,the particle filter algorithm is also introduced to smooth the sample points in crowd paths.We implemented the approach on off-the-shelf smartphones and evaluate the performance.Experimental results indicate that the approach can availably construct WiFi fingerprint database without reduce the localization accuracy.展开更多
[ Objective] The aim was to study the optimum extraction condition of dietary fiber of wheat bran and to discuss its influence on viscosity-elasticity of noodle dough with added extracts. [ Methed] Influences of a-amy...[ Objective] The aim was to study the optimum extraction condition of dietary fiber of wheat bran and to discuss its influence on viscosity-elasticity of noodle dough with added extracts. [ Methed] Influences of a-amylase, alkaline concentration, alkaline hydrolysis time and temperature on water holding capability and swelling capacity of dietary fiber were evaluated using single-factor test and orthogonal test. Effects of added dietary fiber from wheat bran on dough absorption ratio, rupture stress of dough and creep resistance were studied. [ Result] When the hydrolysis condi-tions of wheat bran were 0.4% a-amylase at 75 ℃ for 60 rain, further alkaline conditions were 5% sodium hydroxide for 60 min at 65 ℃, dietary fi-ber exhibited fine water holding capability and swelling capacity. The addition of 3%-5% dietary fiber from wheat bran into dough had little influence on the water absorption ratio of noodle, rupture stress of dough, creep resistance and can make functional noodle with rich dietary fiber from wheat bran. [Coonclusion] The study provided reference for the comprehensive utilization of wheat bran and development of functional product.展开更多
Aiming at developing a node scheduling protocol for sensor networks with fewer active nodes,we propose a coordinated node scheduling protocol based on the presentation of a solution and its optimization to determine w...Aiming at developing a node scheduling protocol for sensor networks with fewer active nodes,we propose a coordinated node scheduling protocol based on the presentation of a solution and its optimization to determine whether a node is redundant.The proposed protocol can reduce the number of working nodes by turning off as many redundant nodes as possible without degrading the coverage and connectivity.The simulation result shows that our protocol outperforms the peer with respect to the working node number and dynamic coverage percentage.展开更多
It is known that packet collisions in wireless networks will deteriorate system performance, hence substantial efforts have been made to avoid collision in multi-user access designs. Also, there have been many studies...It is known that packet collisions in wireless networks will deteriorate system performance, hence substantial efforts have been made to avoid collision in multi-user access designs. Also, there have been many studies on throughput analysis of CSMA wireless networks. However, for a typical CSMA network in which not all nodes can sense each other, it is still not well investigated how link throughputs are affected by collisions. We note that in practical 802.11-like networks, the time is divided into mini-timeslots and packet collisions are in fact unavoidable. Thus, it is desirable to move forward to explore how collisions in such a network will affect system performance. Based on the collision-free ideal CSMA network(ICN) model, this paper attempts to analyze link throughputs when taking the backoff collisions into account and examine the effect of collisions on link throughputs. Specifically, we propose an Extended Ideal CSMA Network(EICN) model to characterize the collision effects as well as the interactions and dependency among links in the network. Based on EICN, we could directly compute link throughputs and collision probabilities. Simulations show that the EICN model is of high accuracy. Under various network topologies and protocol parameter settings, the computation error of link throughputs using EICN is kept to 4% or below. Interestingly, we find that unlike expected, the effect of collisions on link throughputs in a modest CSMA wireless network is not significant, which enriches our understanding on practical CSMA wireless networks such as Wi-Fi.展开更多
Nowadays, because of its wide bandwidth and high communication capability, the optical fiber is more and more used for high data rate transmission of information in railway environments. Conventionally, only one servi...Nowadays, because of its wide bandwidth and high communication capability, the optical fiber is more and more used for high data rate transmission of information in railway environments. Conventionally, only one service is sent over the fiber at a time. However, many different services can be simultaneously conveyed in railway stations such as passenger information service, cellular phone, Wi-Fi... The objective of the work proposed in this paper is to demonstrate the potential benefits of transmitting radio signals over fiber in a railway environment. The main idea is to exploit the full capacity of the fiber by transmitting multiple services using the same fiber. Since, different services are operating in different frequency bands; we propose a new multiplexing technique called Mode Group Diversity Multiplexing (MGDM) to ensure the transmission of multiple services using the same fiber, without additional infrastructure. There are numerous advantages of the proposed technique, e.g., faster and reliable data exchange, high resolution video surveillance capability, high data rate information exchange in railway stations. We present, in this paper, the physical characteristics of optical fibers, performance of MGDM multiplexing technique, and the influence of the laser excitation conditions at the entrance of the fiber on the performances of the system.展开更多
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) in infrastructure based vehicular net- works is dedicated to support reliable Intemet services for mobile users. However, an end-to- end TCP flow not only experiences some com- mo...Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) in infrastructure based vehicular net- works is dedicated to support reliable Intemet services for mobile users. However, an end-to- end TCP flow not only experiences some com- mon challenges in wireless mobile networks, such as high packet loss rate, medium access competition, unstable wireless bandwidth, and dynamic topology, etc., but also suffers from performance degradation due to traffic congestion at the Road-Side Units (RSUs) that connect the wireline and wireless networks. In order to address the challenging issues related to reliable TCP transmissions in infrastruc- ture based vehicular networks, we propose an RSU based TCP (R-TCP) scheme. For wireline source nodes, R-TCP adopts a novel flow control mechanism to adjust transmission rates according to the status of bottleneck link. Specifically, during the short wireless connec- tion time in Infrastructure based vehicular net- works, R-TCP quickly chooses an ideal trans- mission rate for data transmissions instead of activating the slow start algorithm after the connection is established, and successfully avoids the oscillation of the transmission rate. Simulation results show that R-TCP achieves great advantages than some relate proposals in terms of throughput, end-to-end delay, and packet loss rate.展开更多
This paper proposes k-regular and k-connected(k&k) structure against multifaults in ultra-high capacity optical networks.Theoretical results show that pre-configured k&k structure can reach the lower bound on ...This paper proposes k-regular and k-connected(k&k) structure against multifaults in ultra-high capacity optical networks.Theoretical results show that pre-configured k&k structure can reach the lower bound on logical redundancy.The switching time of k&k protection structure is as quickly as ringbased protection in SDH network.It is the optimal protection structure in ultra-high capacity optical networks against multi-faults.We develop the linear programming model for k&k structure and propose a construction method for k&k structure design.Simulations are conducted for spare spectrum resources effi ciency of the pre-confi gured k&k structure under multi-faults on representative COST239 and NSFnet topologies.Numerical results show that the spare spectrum resources efficiency of k&k structure can reach the lower bound on logical redundancy in static networks.And it can largely improve spare spectrum resources effi ciency compared with p-cycles based protection structure without reducing protection effi ciency under dynamic traffi cs.展开更多
Darcy's law only applying to the flow domain is extended to the entire fracture network domain including the dry domain.The partial differential equation(PDE) formulation for unconfined seepage flow problems for d...Darcy's law only applying to the flow domain is extended to the entire fracture network domain including the dry domain.The partial differential equation(PDE) formulation for unconfined seepage flow problems for discrete fracture network is established,in which a boundary condition of Signorini's type is prescribed over the potential seepage surfaces.In order to reduce the difficulty in selecting trial functions,a new variational inequality formulation is presented and mathematically proved to be equivalent to the PDE formulation.The numerical procedure based on the VI formulation is proposed and the corresponding algorithm has been developed.Since a continuous penalized Heaviside function is introduced to replace a jump function in finite element analysis,oscillation of numerical integration for facture elements cut by the free surface is eliminated and stability of numerical solution is assured.The numerical results from two typical examples demonstrate,on the one hand the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method,and on the other hand the capability of predicting main seepage pathways in fractured rocks and flow rates out of the drainage system,which is very important for performance assessments and design optimization of complex drainage system.展开更多
To improve the accuracy of the vehicle crashworthiness simulation, it is necessary as well as important to integrate the valid forming effects of key parts. It has been agreed by many that one-step simulation results ...To improve the accuracy of the vehicle crashworthiness simulation, it is necessary as well as important to integrate the valid forming effects of key parts. It has been agreed by many that one-step simulation results should be used only as a qualitative trend of the part but not as an engineering result for further structural analysis, especially for a relatively complex part. The study shows that it is inaccurate to analyze the forming effects with one-step simulation based on the geometry of the final part through comparison with the incremental simulation and verification with the actual part, whether in thickness or in plastic strain. However, incremental simulation is very time consuming and infeasible in the early stage of vehicle design due to lack- ing of forming tools and process parameters. An engineering approach is proposed to meet the requirement of accuracy as well as the time efficiency, where one-step simulation is conducted based on the geometry of the transformed part instead of the fi- nN part. The geometry of the transformed part is generated by simple die design engineering and proves to offer much more accuracy than the one-step simulation based on the final part geometry.展开更多
Consigned to the shadows of telecommunications, optical sensing has often taken a back seat in a young person's mind when considering the importance of photonics, or optics, to the advancement of the society and of k...Consigned to the shadows of telecommunications, optical sensing has often taken a back seat in a young person's mind when considering the importance of photonics, or optics, to the advancement of the society and of knowledge. Here, I touch on briefly how broad optical sensing and sensing generally has become and how and why it is becoming the catalyst for the convergence of many technologies and in the process raising significant philosophical questions about the transformation of our society and indeed ourselves. In doing so I touch on many of the complexities in real life that influence the breakthroughs we see today, including a healthy speculation and critique on our society and an awareness of the motivations to improve it that drive many of them.展开更多
文摘A modified reduced-order method for RC networks which takes a division-and-conquest strategy is presented.The whole network is partitioned into a set of sub-networks at first,then each of them is reduced by Krylov subspace techniques,and finally all the reduced sub-networks are incorporated together.With some accuracy,this method can reduce the number of both nodes and components of the circuit comparing to the traditional methods which usually only offer a reduced net with less nodes.This can markedly accelerate the sparse-matrix-based simulators whose performance is dominated by the entity of the matrix or the number of components of the circuits.
基金Major Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.70533050)High Technology Research Program ofJiangsu Province(No.BG2007012)+1 种基金China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(No.20070411065)Science Foundation of China University of Mining andTechnology(No.OC080303)
文摘To cope with the constraint problem of power consumption and transmission delay in the virtual backbone of wireless sensor network, a distributed connected dominating set (CDS) algorithm with (α,β)-constraints is proposed. Based on the (α, β)-tree concept, a new connected dominating tree with bounded transmission delay problem(CDTT) is defined and a corresponding algorithm is designed to construct a CDT-tree which can trade off limited total power and bounded transmission delay from source to destination nodes. The CDT algorithm consists of two phases: The first phase constructs a maximum independent set(MIS)in a unit disk graph model. The second phase estimates the distance and calculates the transmission power to construct a spanning tree in an undirected graph with different weights for MST and SPF, respectively. The theoretical analysis and simulation results show that the CDT algorithm gives a correct solution to the CDTF problem and forms a virtual backbone with( α,β)-constraints balancing the requirements of power consumption and transmission delay.
文摘The cellular neural/nonlinear network (CNN) is a powerful tool for image and video signal processing,robotic and biological visions. This paper discusses a general method for designing template of the global connectivitydetection (GCD) CNN, which provides parameter inequalities for determining parameter intervals for implementing thecorresponding functions. The GCD CNN has stronger ability and faster rate for determining global connectivity in binarypatterns than the GCD CNN proposed by Zarandy. An example for detecting the connectivity in complex patterns isgiven.
基金partially sponsored by National Key Project of China (No.2012ZX03001013-003)
文摘In typical Wi-Fi based indoor positioning systems employing fingerprint model,plentiful fingerprints need to be trained by trained experts or technician,which extends labor costs and restricts their promotion.In this paper,a novel approach based on crowd paths to solve this problem is presented,which collects and constructs automatically fingerprints database for anonymous buildings through common crowd customers.However,the accuracy degradation problem may be introduced as crowd customers are not professional trained and equipped.Therefore,we define two concepts:fixed landmark and hint landmark,to rectify the fingerprint database in the practical system,in which common corridor crossing points serve as fixed landmark and cross point among different crowd paths serve as hint landmark.Machinelearning techniques are utilized for short range approximation around fixed landmarks and fuzzy logic decision technology is applied for searching hint landmarks in crowd traces space.Besides,the particle filter algorithm is also introduced to smooth the sample points in crowd paths.We implemented the approach on off-the-shelf smartphones and evaluate the performance.Experimental results indicate that the approach can availably construct WiFi fingerprint database without reduce the localization accuracy.
基金Supported by National Science and Technology Fund(31171753)International Science and Technology Cooperation Program of Anhui Province(10080703035)Natural Scientific Research Fund of Universities in Anhui Province(KJ2009A109)
文摘[ Objective] The aim was to study the optimum extraction condition of dietary fiber of wheat bran and to discuss its influence on viscosity-elasticity of noodle dough with added extracts. [ Methed] Influences of a-amylase, alkaline concentration, alkaline hydrolysis time and temperature on water holding capability and swelling capacity of dietary fiber were evaluated using single-factor test and orthogonal test. Effects of added dietary fiber from wheat bran on dough absorption ratio, rupture stress of dough and creep resistance were studied. [ Result] When the hydrolysis condi-tions of wheat bran were 0.4% a-amylase at 75 ℃ for 60 rain, further alkaline conditions were 5% sodium hydroxide for 60 min at 65 ℃, dietary fi-ber exhibited fine water holding capability and swelling capacity. The addition of 3%-5% dietary fiber from wheat bran into dough had little influence on the water absorption ratio of noodle, rupture stress of dough, creep resistance and can make functional noodle with rich dietary fiber from wheat bran. [Coonclusion] The study provided reference for the comprehensive utilization of wheat bran and development of functional product.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.60533110 and No.90604013)the Scientific Research Foundation of Harbin Institute of Technology(Grant No. HIT2002.74)
文摘Aiming at developing a node scheduling protocol for sensor networks with fewer active nodes,we propose a coordinated node scheduling protocol based on the presentation of a solution and its optimization to determine whether a node is redundant.The proposed protocol can reduce the number of working nodes by turning off as many redundant nodes as possible without degrading the coverage and connectivity.The simulation result shows that our protocol outperforms the peer with respect to the working node number and dynamic coverage percentage.
基金partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 61571178,Grant 61771315 and Grant 61501160
文摘It is known that packet collisions in wireless networks will deteriorate system performance, hence substantial efforts have been made to avoid collision in multi-user access designs. Also, there have been many studies on throughput analysis of CSMA wireless networks. However, for a typical CSMA network in which not all nodes can sense each other, it is still not well investigated how link throughputs are affected by collisions. We note that in practical 802.11-like networks, the time is divided into mini-timeslots and packet collisions are in fact unavoidable. Thus, it is desirable to move forward to explore how collisions in such a network will affect system performance. Based on the collision-free ideal CSMA network(ICN) model, this paper attempts to analyze link throughputs when taking the backoff collisions into account and examine the effect of collisions on link throughputs. Specifically, we propose an Extended Ideal CSMA Network(EICN) model to characterize the collision effects as well as the interactions and dependency among links in the network. Based on EICN, we could directly compute link throughputs and collision probabilities. Simulations show that the EICN model is of high accuracy. Under various network topologies and protocol parameter settings, the computation error of link throughputs using EICN is kept to 4% or below. Interestingly, we find that unlike expected, the effect of collisions on link throughputs in a modest CSMA wireless network is not significant, which enriches our understanding on practical CSMA wireless networks such as Wi-Fi.
文摘Nowadays, because of its wide bandwidth and high communication capability, the optical fiber is more and more used for high data rate transmission of information in railway environments. Conventionally, only one service is sent over the fiber at a time. However, many different services can be simultaneously conveyed in railway stations such as passenger information service, cellular phone, Wi-Fi... The objective of the work proposed in this paper is to demonstrate the potential benefits of transmitting radio signals over fiber in a railway environment. The main idea is to exploit the full capacity of the fiber by transmitting multiple services using the same fiber. Since, different services are operating in different frequency bands; we propose a new multiplexing technique called Mode Group Diversity Multiplexing (MGDM) to ensure the transmission of multiple services using the same fiber, without additional infrastructure. There are numerous advantages of the proposed technique, e.g., faster and reliable data exchange, high resolution video surveillance capability, high data rate information exchange in railway stations. We present, in this paper, the physical characteristics of optical fibers, performance of MGDM multiplexing technique, and the influence of the laser excitation conditions at the entrance of the fiber on the performances of the system.
基金supported in part by Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China under Grant(N140405004) partly by National Natural Science Foundation of China(61373159)+1 种基金partly by Educational Committee of Liaoning Province science and technology research projects under Grant (L2013096)partly by Key Laboratory Project Funds of Shenyang Ligong University (4771004kfs03)
文摘Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) in infrastructure based vehicular net- works is dedicated to support reliable Intemet services for mobile users. However, an end-to- end TCP flow not only experiences some com- mon challenges in wireless mobile networks, such as high packet loss rate, medium access competition, unstable wireless bandwidth, and dynamic topology, etc., but also suffers from performance degradation due to traffic congestion at the Road-Side Units (RSUs) that connect the wireline and wireless networks. In order to address the challenging issues related to reliable TCP transmissions in infrastruc- ture based vehicular networks, we propose an RSU based TCP (R-TCP) scheme. For wireline source nodes, R-TCP adopts a novel flow control mechanism to adjust transmission rates according to the status of bottleneck link. Specifically, during the short wireless connec- tion time in Infrastructure based vehicular net- works, R-TCP quickly chooses an ideal trans- mission rate for data transmissions instead of activating the slow start algorithm after the connection is established, and successfully avoids the oscillation of the transmission rate. Simulation results show that R-TCP achieves great advantages than some relate proposals in terms of throughput, end-to-end delay, and packet loss rate.
基金supported by the Major State Basic Research Development Program of China(973 Program)(Nos.2010CB328202,2010CB328204,and 2012CB315604)the HiTech Research and Development Program of China(863 Program)(Nos.2012AA01Z301,and 2012AA011302)+2 种基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.60702005)the Beijing Nova Program(No.2011065)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
文摘This paper proposes k-regular and k-connected(k&k) structure against multifaults in ultra-high capacity optical networks.Theoretical results show that pre-configured k&k structure can reach the lower bound on logical redundancy.The switching time of k&k protection structure is as quickly as ringbased protection in SDH network.It is the optimal protection structure in ultra-high capacity optical networks against multi-faults.We develop the linear programming model for k&k structure and propose a construction method for k&k structure design.Simulations are conducted for spare spectrum resources effi ciency of the pre-confi gured k&k structure under multi-faults on representative COST239 and NSFnet topologies.Numerical results show that the spare spectrum resources efficiency of k&k structure can reach the lower bound on logical redundancy in static networks.And it can largely improve spare spectrum resources effi ciency compared with p-cycles based protection structure without reducing protection effi ciency under dynamic traffi cs.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51079110)the National Basic Research Program of China ("973" Project) (Grant No. 2011CB013506)
文摘Darcy's law only applying to the flow domain is extended to the entire fracture network domain including the dry domain.The partial differential equation(PDE) formulation for unconfined seepage flow problems for discrete fracture network is established,in which a boundary condition of Signorini's type is prescribed over the potential seepage surfaces.In order to reduce the difficulty in selecting trial functions,a new variational inequality formulation is presented and mathematically proved to be equivalent to the PDE formulation.The numerical procedure based on the VI formulation is proposed and the corresponding algorithm has been developed.Since a continuous penalized Heaviside function is introduced to replace a jump function in finite element analysis,oscillation of numerical integration for facture elements cut by the free surface is eliminated and stability of numerical solution is assured.The numerical results from two typical examples demonstrate,on the one hand the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method,and on the other hand the capability of predicting main seepage pathways in fractured rocks and flow rates out of the drainage system,which is very important for performance assessments and design optimization of complex drainage system.
基金supported from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51005144)the Innovation Program of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission and Shanghai Automotive Industry Science and Technology Development Foundation (Grant No. 1009)
文摘To improve the accuracy of the vehicle crashworthiness simulation, it is necessary as well as important to integrate the valid forming effects of key parts. It has been agreed by many that one-step simulation results should be used only as a qualitative trend of the part but not as an engineering result for further structural analysis, especially for a relatively complex part. The study shows that it is inaccurate to analyze the forming effects with one-step simulation based on the geometry of the final part through comparison with the incremental simulation and verification with the actual part, whether in thickness or in plastic strain. However, incremental simulation is very time consuming and infeasible in the early stage of vehicle design due to lack- ing of forming tools and process parameters. An engineering approach is proposed to meet the requirement of accuracy as well as the time efficiency, where one-step simulation is conducted based on the geometry of the transformed part instead of the fi- nN part. The geometry of the transformed part is generated by simple die design engineering and proves to offer much more accuracy than the one-step simulation based on the final part geometry.
文摘Consigned to the shadows of telecommunications, optical sensing has often taken a back seat in a young person's mind when considering the importance of photonics, or optics, to the advancement of the society and of knowledge. Here, I touch on briefly how broad optical sensing and sensing generally has become and how and why it is becoming the catalyst for the convergence of many technologies and in the process raising significant philosophical questions about the transformation of our society and indeed ourselves. In doing so I touch on many of the complexities in real life that influence the breakthroughs we see today, including a healthy speculation and critique on our society and an awareness of the motivations to improve it that drive many of them.