incremental learning of triadic plsa for collaborative filtering

Beijing University of Technology (BJUT); Beijing Municipal Lab of Brain Informatics; Chinese Society of Radiology; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs

一种五自由度机电测控系统的设计与实现

文章提出了一种基于五自由度机电系统的测控系统设计方法,并从机械系统构成、测控系统结构及软硬件设计方面论述了系统实现技术。针对系统特定的功能要求,文章详细介绍了位姿组合测量和各位姿自由度控制的测控方法,并应用模块化设计和数据流分析方法进行软硬件设计。通过实验进行系统特性分析,得到运行参数指标。实验证明这种设计方法和实现技术合理可行。

地下水位上升造成的黄土远程滑坡形成机理与数值模拟研究

Based on field survey, laboratory testing and numerical modeling, engineering characteristics of undisturbed loess and the mechanism of long-runout loess landslides caused by underground water level rise, as well as the formation conditions and spatial distribution of landslides, are systematically studied and analyzed. Loess landslides at south Plateau of Jingyang County are mainly classified as flowslide, slide and fall. Flowslide is the main type characteristic of high velocity, long runout and multi-stages. The steep relief composed of loose structured loess-old aged soil serials and the rise of groundwater table are the predominant conditions for landslides in the study area. To study loess mechanic poperties and loess landslides mechanisims, isotropically and anisotropically consolidated undrained compression(ICU and ACU) tests and constant-deviator-drained compression (CQD) tests were carried out on undisturbed samples. The results of undrained compression tests performed at the in-situ stress level show that the soils are of consistently strain-softening in the stress-strain relations and cause high excess pore pressure. The steady-state line and the potential region of instability are obtained from ICU and ACU test results. A necessary condition for liquefaction is that the soil state initially lies in or is brought into the potential instability region. In addition, a strong strain-softening model is also formed. CQD tests demonstrate that the mobilized friction angle is far less than the steady-state angle and that the soil experiences undrained contractive failure suddenly at very small strains when its stress path during drained loading tries to cross the potential instability region，thus validates the proposed instability region. Based on the location of the region of potential instability and the stress state of slope soil, a method of static liquefaction analysis is proposed for loess landslides caused by rise in groundwater table. Compared with other liquefaction analysis methods, this method overcomes the limitations inherent in conventional slope stability method and undrained brittleness index method. Triaxial tests composed of constant water content (CW) and wetting tests at constant deviator stress are performed on undisturbed unsaturated samples. The stress-strain relation of CW tests takes on strain-hardening behavior; The results of wetting tests at constant deviator stress designed to study the mechanics of failure of unsaturated loess caused by an increase in the degree of saturation (wetting) shows that a contractive failure occurs in the undisturbed samples. On the basis of the above triaxial test results, the initiation of static liquefaction is presented for long-runout loess landslides caused by rise in groundwater table, that is, the loess slope soil gradually transfer from unsaturated to saturated state under the infiltration of irrigation. A contractive failure occurs in the local region at very small strain by increasing the pore-water pressure at constant deviator stresses under drained conditons. It is the contractive failrue resulting from rise of pore pressure that leads to high excess pore pressure in the neighbour soil which reduces shear resistance of soil. The neighbour soils also fail due to the rapid increase in pore-water pressure. Thus a connected failure surface is developed quickly and a flowslide occurs. Based on the saturated-unsaturated seepage theory, transient seepage is computed using the finite element method on loess slope under groundwater table rise. Pore-water pressure distribution for every time step after irrigation are obtained. The phreatic surface in the slope increases with the groundwater table. Pore-water pressure distribution within 8m above the phreatic surface changes very quickly，but the water content and pore water pressure in the region ranging from 8m above the phreatic surface up to ground surface is almost not affected and the matric suction usually is kept at 100～120 kPa. Based on the results of laboratory tests and seepage flow analysis, the development process of loess landslide is modeled considering groundwater table rise. The shearing plastic zone first occurs at the slope toe where the soil is soaked for long term during rise in groundwater table. As irrigation continues, the shearing plastic zone gradually extends to the interior soils, with the results that the tensile plastic zone occurs at the slope crown. As time goes on, both the shearing plastic zone and tensile plastic zone continue to extend. Then a connected plastic zone is formed and fowslide occurs. In comparision to laboratory test results, the results of numerical simulation quite well verify the presented mechanism of static liquefaction of long-runout loess landslides caused by rise in groundwater table.

The application of the ecological footprint in two Irish urban areas: Limerick and Belfast

The ecological footprint is now a widely accepted indicator of sustainable
development. Footprinting translates resource consumption into the land area
required to sustain it, and allows for an average per capita footprint for a region
or nation to be compared with the global average. This paper reports on a project
in which footprints were calculated for two Irish cities, namely Belfast in
Northern Ireland and Limerick in the Republic of Ireland for the year 2001. As
is frequently the case at sub-national scale, data quality and availability were
often problematic, and in general data gaps were filled by means of population
proxies or national averages. A range of methods was applied to convert
resource flows to land areas. Both footprints suggest that the lifestyles of citizens
of the cities use several times more land than their global share, as has been
found for other cities.

Evidence and Spatial Planning for Sustainable Development: A Model for Spatially Allocating Material Flows

The aspiration the spatial planning should act as the main coordinating function for the transition to a sustainable society is grounded on the assumption that it is capable of incorporating both a strong evidence base of environmental accounting for policy, coupled with opportunities for open, deliberative decision-making. While there are a number of increasingly sophisticated methods (such as material flow analysis and ecological footprinting) that can be used to longitudinally determine the impact of policy, there are fewer that can provide a robust spatial assessment of sustainability policy. In this paper, we introduce the Spatial Allocation of Material Flow Analysis (SAMFA) model, which uses the concept of socio-economic metabolism to extrapolate the impact of local consumption patterns that may occur as a result of the local spatial planning process at multiple spatial levels. The initial application the SAMFA model is based on County Kildare in the Republic of Ireland, through spatial temporal simulation and visualisation of construction material flows and associated energy use in the housing sector. Thus, while we focus on an Ireland case study, the model is applicable to spatial planning and sustainability research more generally. Through the development and evaluation of alternative scenarios, the model appears to be successful in its prediction of the cumulative resource and energy impacts arising from consumption and development patterns. This leads to some important insights in relation to the differential spatial distribution of disaggregated allocation of material balance and energy use, for example that rural areas have greater resource accumulation (and are therefore in a sense “less sustainable”) than urban areas, confirming that rural housing in Ireland is both more material and energy intensive. This therefore has the potential to identify hotspots of higher material and energy use, which can be addressed through targeted planning initiatives or focussed community engagement. Furthermore, due to the ability of the model to allow manipulation of different policy criteria (increased density, urban conservation etc), it can also act as an effective basis for multi-stakeholder engagement.

Diagnóstico de avarias em motores elétricos

Trabalho Final de Mestrado para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Mecânica

Should Quinta dos Açores expand its retailer network in lisbon?

The primary purpose of this research is to examine the feasibility of expanding Quinta dos Açores retailer network in Lisbon starting from 2015 onwards. A time series model was developed to estimate the company’s future production and sales. A Discounted Cash Flow analysis was also conducted to determine the profitability of this expansion opportunity. Our findings reveal that Quinta dos Açores will face negative results in the first two years of the expansion strategy, but the overall opportunity presents a net positive result of almost three million euros.

Zoning of the commercial poultry industry in Ontario as a method of avian influenza mitigation

L’Organisation mondiale de la santé animale (OIE) est l’institution internationale responsable de la mise en place des mesures sanitaires associées aux échanges commerciaux d’animaux vivants. Le zonage est une méthode de contrôle recommandée par l’OIE pour certaines maladies infectieuses, dont l’influenza aviaire. Les éclosions d’influenza aviaire été extrêmement coûteuses pour l’industrie avicole partout dans le monde. Afin d’évaluer la possibilité d’user de cette approche en Ontario, les données sur les sites de production avicole ont été fournies par les fédérations d’éleveurs de volailles ce cette province. L’information portant sur les industries associées à la production avicole, soit les meuneries, les abattoirs, les couvoirs, et les usines de classification d’œufs, a été obtenue par l’entremise de plusieurs sources, dont des représentants de l’industrie avicole. Des diagrammes de flux a été crée afin de comprendre les interactions entre les sites de production et les industries associées à ceux-ci. Ces industries constituaient les éléments de bas nécessaires au zonage. Cette analyse a permis de créer une base de données portant sur intrants et extrants de production pour chaque site d’élevage avicole, ainsi que pour les sites de production des industries associées à l’aviculture. À l’aide du logiciel ArcGIS, cette information a été fusionnée à des données géospatiales de Statistique Canada de l’Ontario et du Québec. La base de données résultante a permis de réaliser les essais de zonage. Soixante-douze essais ont été réalisés. Quatre ont été retenus car celles minimisaient de façon similaire les pertes de production de l’industrie. Ces essais montrent que la méthode utilisée pour l’étude du zonage peut démontrer les déficits et les surplus de production de l’industrie avicole commerciale en Ontario. Ceux-ci pourront servir de point de départ lors des discussions des intervenants de l’industrie avicole, étant donné que la coopération et la communication sont essentielles au succès du zonage.

The omega equation and potential vorticity

Two fundamental perspectives on the dynamics of midlatitude weather systems are provided by potential vorticity (PV) and the omega equation. The aim of this paper is to investigate the link between the two perspectives, which has so far received very little attention in the meteorological literature. It also aims to give a quantitative basis for discussion of quasi-geostrophic vertical motion in terms of components associated with system movement, maintaining a constant thermal structure, and with the development of that structure. The former links with the isentropic relative-flow analysis technique. Viewed in a moving frame of reference, the measured development of a system depends on the velocity of that frame of reference. The requirement that the development should be a minimum provides a quantitative method for determining the optimum system velocity. The component of vertical velocity associated with development is shown to satisfy an omega equation with forcing determined from the relative advection of interior PV and boundary temperature. The analysis carries through in the presence of diabatic heating provided the omega equation forcing is based on the interior PV and boundary thermal tendencies, including the heating effect. The analysis is shown to be possible also at the level of the semi-geostrophic approximation. The analysis technique is applied to a number of idealized problems that can be considered to be building blocks for midlatitude synoptic-scale dynamics. They focus on the influences of interior PV, boundary temperature, an interior boundary, baroclinic instability associated with two boundaries, and also diabatic heating. In each case, insights yielded by the new perspective are sought into the dynamical behaviour, especially that related to vertical motion. Copyright © 2003 Royal Meteorological Society

Eye-movements aid the control of locomotion

Eye-movements have long been considered a problem when trying to understand the visual control of locomotion. They transform the retinal image from a simple expanding pattern of moving texture elements (pure optic flow), into a complex combination of translation and rotation components (retinal flow). In this article we investigate whether there are measurable advantages to having an active free gaze, over a static gaze or tracking gaze, when steering along a winding path. We also examine patterns of free gaze behavior to determine preferred gaze strategies during active locomotion. Participants were asked to steer along a computer-simulated textured roadway with free gaze, fixed gaze, or gaze tracking the center of the roadway. Deviation of position from the center of the road was recorded along with their point of gaze. It was found that visually tracking the middle of the road produced smaller steering errors than for fixed gaze. Participants performed best at the steering task when allowed to sample naturally from the road ahead with free gaze. There was some variation in the gaze strategies used, but sampling was predominantly of areas proximal to the center of the road. These results diverge from traditional models of flow analysis.

Implications of the altitude of transient 630-nm dayside auroral emissions

The altitude from which transient 630-nm (“red line”) light is emitted in transient dayside auroral breakup events is discussed. Theoretically, the emissions should normally originate from approximately 250 to 550 km. Because the luminosity in dayside breakup events moves in a way that is consistent with newly opened field lines, they have been interpreted as the ionospheric signatures of transient reconnection at the dayside magnetopause. For this model the importance of these events for convection can be assessed from the rate of change of their area. The area derived from analysis of images from an all-sky camera and meridian scans from a photometer, however, depends on the square of the assumed emission altitude. From field line mapping, it is shown for both a westward and an eastward moving event, that the main 557.7-nm emission comes from the edge of the 630 nm transient, where a flux transfer event model would place the upward field-aligned current (on the poleward and equatorward edge, respectively). The observing geometry for the two cases presented is such that this is true, irrespective of the 630-nm emission altitude. From comparisons with the European incoherent scatter radar data for the westward (interplanetary magnetic field By > 0) event on January 12, 1988, the 630-nm emission appears to emanate from an altitude of 250 km, and to be accompanied by some 557.7-nm “green-line” emission. However, for a large, eastward moving event observed on January 9, 1989, there is evidence that the emission altitude is considerably greater and, in this case, the only 557.7-nm emission is that on the equatorward edge of the event, consistent with a higher altitude 630-nm excitation source. Assuming an emission altitude of 250 km for this event yields a reconnection voltage of >50 kV during the reconnection burst but a contribution to the convection voltage of >15 kV. However, from the motion of the event we infer that the luminosity peaks at an altitude in the range of 400 and 500 km, and for the top of this range the reconnection and average convection voltages would be increased to >200 kV and >60 kV, respectively. (These are all minimum estimates because the event extends in longitude beyond the field-of-view of the camera). Hence the higher-emission altitude has a highly significant implication, namely that the reconnection bursts which cause the dayside breakup events could explain most of the voltage placed across the magnetosphere and polar cap by the solar wind flow. Analysis of the plasma density and temperatures during the event on January 9, 1989, predicts the required thermal excitation of significant 630-nm intensities at altitudes of 400-500 km.

Implementing stepwise solvent elution in sequential injection chromatography for fluorimetric determination of intracellular free amino acids in the microalgae Tetraselmis gracilis

The concept of sequential injection chromatography (SIC) was exploited to automate the fluorimetric determination of amino acids after pre-column derivatization with ophthaldialdehyde (OPA) in presence of 2-mercaptoethanol (2MCE) using a reverse phase monolithic C(18) stationary phase. The method is low-priced and based on five steps of isocratic elutions. The first step employs the mixture methanol: tetrahydrofuran: 10 mmol L(-1) phosphate buffer (pH 7.2) at the volumetric ratio of 8:1:91; the other steps use methanol: 10 mmol L-1 phosphate buffer (pH 7.2) at volumetric ratios of 20:80, 35:65, SO:SO and 65:35. At a flow rate of 10 mu L s(-1) a 25 mm long-column was able to separate aspartic acid (Asp), glutamic acid (Glu), asparagine (Asn), serine (Ser), glutamine (Gln), glycine (Gly), threonine (Thr), citruline (Ctr), arginine (Arg), alanine (Ala), tyrosine (Tyr), phenylalanine (Phe), ornithine (Orn) and lysine (Lys) with resolution >1.2 as well as methionine (Met) and valine (Val) with resolution of 0.6. Under these conditions isoleucine (Ile) and leucine (Leu) co-eluted. The entire cycle of amino acids derivatization, chromatographic separation and column conditioning at the end of separation lasted 25 min. At a flow rate of 40 mu L s(-1) such time was reduced to 10 min at the cost of resolution worsening for the pairs Ctr/Arg and Orn/Lys. The detection limits varied from 0.092 mu mol L(-1) for Tyr to 0.51 mu mol L(-1) for Orn. The method was successfully applied to the determination of intracellular free amino acids in the green alga Tetraselmis gracilis during a period of seven days of cultivation. Samples spiked with known amounts of amino acids resulted in recoveries between 94 and 112%. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Chemiluminescence: liquid-phase

Article Outline
• Introduction
• Acidic Potassium Permanganate
• Acridinium Esters
• Diaryl Oxalates and Oxamides
• Dioxetanes
• Hypohalites
• Luminol and Its Analogs
• Tris(2,2′-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II)
• Practical Considerations
• HPLC and Flow Analysis
• Capillary Electrophoresis
• Enzyme Reaction Products
• Immunoassay and DNA Assays
• Further Reading

Chemiluminescence detection of opium poppy (papaver somniferum) alkaloids

A review with 98 references. The determination of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) alkaloids and their semi-synthetic derivatives has important applications in industrial process monitoring, clinical analysis and forensic science. Liquid-phase chemiluminescence reagents such as tris(2,2′-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) and acidic potassium permanganate exhibit remarkable sensitivity and complementary selectivity for many P. somniferum alkaloids, which has been exploited in the development of a range of analytical procedures using flow analysis, high-performance liquid chromatography, capillary electrophoresis and microfluidic instrumentation.

Contributions to analytical chemistry

This collection of seventy-five publications represents the authors contribution to spectroscopy, separation science and flow analysis. Of particular note are the fundamental investigations into chemiluminescence and the innovative strategies for its utilisation as a sensitive and selective means of detection for several important and challenging problems in analytical chemistry.