Trade-off between reciprocal mutualists: local resource availability-oriented interaction in fig/fig wasp mutualism

The mechanisms that prevent competition (conflict) between the recipient and co-operative actor in co-operative systems remain one of the greatest problems for evolutionary biology. Previous hypotheses suggest that self-restraint, dispersal or spatial con

An Integrated Solution for Software Process Improvement

Since 1990s, the software industry in China has been developed very rapidly and the total revenue in recent three years of 2005, 2006 and 2007 were 390.0, 480.0, and 583.4 billions RMB respectively, increased by 28.3% annually on an average basis [1]. By the end of 2007, there were about 18,000 software enterprises in China, and the population of software professionals was 1.48 millions roughly. In the global software market, China, with annual revenue about 82.2 billions USD (8.74% of the total: 940 billions USD), currently ranks on the fourth after USA, EU and Japan. However, the software industry in China is still comparatively weak. Most software enterprises have only tens of employees and millions RBM of revenue. And the software development productivity in China varies highly across the software industry in terms of organization, development type, business area, region, language, project size and team size [2]. Co-operative efforts from the government, the industry and the academy are needed [3]. Continuous software process improvement is an effective way to change the challenging situation of the software industry in China.

Promotional effect of colloidal alumina on the activity of the In/HZSM-5 catalyst for the selective reduction of NO with methane

Colloidal alumina was used to improve the activity of an In/HZSM-5 catalyst for the selective reduction of NO with CH4 in the excess of oxygen. Compared with In/HZSM-5, the In/HZSM-5/Al2O3 catalyst showed higher activity in a wide range of reaction temperatures. It is visualized that a synergetic effect between In/HZSM-5 and Al2O3 enhances the conversion of NOx. The addition of Al2O3 improved the conversion of NO to NO2 and facilitated the activation of methane. An In/HZSM-5/Al2O3 pre-treated with steam for 15 h at 700 degreesC still showed a high activity for the removal of NOx with methane, while an In/HZSM-5 similarly pre-treated with steam showed a lower activity than the fresh sample. The activity of the In/HZSM-5/Al2O3 catalyst could be restored completely after water vapor was removed from the feed gas. Furthermore, it was found that the In/HZSM-5/Al2O3 remained fairly active under high GHSV and O-2 concentration conditions. It was also interesting to find that an increase in NO content could enhance the conversion of methane, and this illustrates that the existence of NO is beneficial for the activation of methane. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

网上协同工作中的等待时距知觉研究

A newly developed experimental model called simulation of real mission was used to explore law of time perception and user endurance for feedback delay under Network-Supported Co-operative Work. Some non-technological factors influencing time perception and user endurance (mission type、difficulty level、feedback method、partner type、gender and A type behavior pattern) were also examined. Results of the study showed that: (1) Under condition of waiting without feedback, mission type and difficulty level demonstrated significant main effects on judgment of waiting duration. People will wait more time to receive partner's feedback if he or she perceives that partner's task is difficult, and the longest waiting duration (LWD) in the mission of computation is longer than the LWD in the mission of proof searching. (2) Under condition of waiting with feedback, experimental data perfectly supported Vierordt's Law: short duration is underestimated, long duration is overestimated, only proper duration (2-6 second) can be estimated correctly. The proper duration will vary with the changing of difficulty levels of mission. More long the waiting duration is, more estimation error will be occurred. The type difference of partner has no significant effect on the law of time perception. (3) Under condition of waiting with feedback, non-technology factors can significantly effect user's endurance. When subjects were told their partner was human, mission type and difficulty level of mission could significantly effect user's endurance. When subjects were told their partner was computer, A type behavior pattern and difficulty level of mission could significantly effect user's endurance. The two-way interaction effect between A type behavior pattern and gender was detected.