Compact ridge waveguide filter with parallel and series-coupled resonators

A novel 3rd-order compact E-plane ridge waveguide filter is presented. Miniaturization is achieved upon introducing a configuration of parallel-coupled E-plane ridge waveguide resonators. Furthermore, the proposed filter allows for transmission zeros at finite frequencies. Fabrication simplicity and mass producibility of standard E-plane filters is maintained. The numerical and experimental results are presented to validate the proposed configuration. A miniaturisation factor of 2 and very sharp upper cutoff are achieved. 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A hierarchical multiclass support vector machine incorporated with holistic triple learning units

This paper proposes a new hierarchical learning structure, namely the holistic triple learning (HTL), for extending the binary support vector machine (SVM) to multi-classification problems. For an N-class problem, a HTL constructs a decision tree up to a depth of A leaf node of the decision tree is allowed to be placed with a holistic triple learning unit whose generalisation abilities are assessed and approved. Meanwhile, the remaining nodes in the decision tree each accommodate a standard binary SVM classifier. The holistic triple classifier is a regression model trained on three classes, whose training algorithm is originated from a recently proposed implementation technique, namely the least-squares support vector machine (LS-SVM). A major novelty with the holistic triple classifier is the reduced number of support vectors in the solution. For the resultant HTL-SVM, an upper bound of the generalisation error can be obtained. The time complexity of training the HTL-SVM is analysed, and is shown to be comparable to that of training the one-versus-one (1-vs.-1) SVM, particularly on small-scale datasets. Empirical studies show that the proposed HTL-SVM achieves competitive classification accuracy with a reduced number of support vectors compared to the popular 1-vs-1 alternative.

Preaching to Princes: John Burgess and George Hakewill in the Royal Pulpit

This article examines a previously unnoticed link between the Puritan John Burgess and the Calvinist conformist George Hakewill. In 1604 Burgess preached a court sermon so outspoken and critical of James I’s religious policy that he was imprisoned. Nearly twenty years later, however, Hakewill chose to incorporate extended passages from Burgess’s sermon into the series of sermons, King David’s vow (1621), preached to Prince Charles’s household. This article considers why Burgess’s sermon became so resonant for Hakewill in the early 1620s and also demonstrates how Hakewill deliberately sought to moderate Burgess’s strident polemic. In so doing the article provides important new evidence for the politically attuned sermon culture at Prince Charles’s court in the early 1620s and also suggests how, as the parameters for clerical conformity shifted in the latter years of James’s reign, Calvinist conformists found a new appeal in the works of moderate Puritans. I

Palaeoclimate change recorded in Upper Cretaceous (Albian-Cenomanian) Kazhdumi Formation Borehole spectral Gamma-Ray Logs, South Pars Gas field, Persian Gulf

Th/U and Th/K data from spectral gamma-ray logs obtained from outcrop successions have been used as a rapid and inexpensive proxy for determining possible episodes of humid-arid palaeoclimate change. Such outcrop-based measurements have never been tested using spectral gamma-ray data obtained from wireline logs in subsurface boreholes. Th/K and Th/U ratios have traditionally been used to decipher sequence stratigraphic patterns, at outcrop and in borehole. The possible influence of palaeoclimate on such ratio changes has yet to be proven, especially from borehole data. In this work, we compare borehole-derived Th/K (and to a lesser extent Th/U) to palaeoenvironmental changes inferred from palynology and deduce that both sea level and changing hinterland weathering regimes caused discrete fluctuations observed in the spectral gamma-ray logs. This is the first time such subsurface information has been used in this way. Interpretation of wireline logs in terms of palaeoclimate as well as sea level may now be considered, and the use of such logs in palaeoclimate reconstruction is strengthened.

Crinoids for lunch? An unexpected biotic interaction from the Upper Ordovician of Scotland

Specimens of the polyplacophoran mollusk 'Helminthochiton' thraivensis Reed from the Upper Ordovician of southwest Scotland provide rare examples of complete valve series preserved in near life position, albeit as external molds. Application of high-resolution X-ray microtomography to one such specimen has revealed the exceptional preservation of its last meal, which included elements of a crinoid column, in its intestine. The interaction was either predatory or scavenging; extant chitons are not known to be crinoidivorous. This is the earliest direct record of predation or scavenging on crinoids in the fossil record. It is also the first indication that the broad axial canal of primitive crinoids may have contained nutritious tissues. The predatory or scavenging habit of H. thraivensis is consistent with its inferred phylogenetic position as a stem-group aplacophoran and provides new data suggesting an origin of carnivory early in the evolution of this clade.