The resolution of the thermodynamic paradox and the theory of guided wave propagation in anisotropic media

The resolution of the so-called thermodynamic paradox is presented in this paper. It is shown, in direct contradiction to the results of several previously published papers, that the cutoff modes (evanescent modes having complex propagation constants) can carry power in a waveguide containing ferrite. The errors in all previous “proofs” which purport to show that the cutoff modes cannot carry power are uncovered. The boundary value problem underlying the paradox is studied in detail; it is shown that, although the solution is somewhat complicated, there is nothing paradoxical about it.

The general problem of electromagnetic wave propagation through rectangular guides filled inhomogeneously in cross-section with transversely magnetized ferrite is also studied. Application of the standard waveguide techniques reduces the TM part to the well-known self-adjoint Sturm Liouville eigenvalue equation. The TE part, however, leads in general to a non-self-adjoint eigenvalue equation. This equation and the associated expansion problem are studied in detail. Expansion coefficients and actual fields are determined for a particular problem.

纳米孔结构金属多孔材料研究进展

纳米孔结构金属多孔材料(以下简称金属纳米多孔材料)是近年来纳米技术及多孔材料科学领域引人注目的研究对象。本文综述了近年来金属纳米多孔材料的制备方法(粉末烧结法、脱合金法、胶晶模板法、斜入射沉积法等)、表征技术、应用现状以及最新的研究成果。指出了金属纳米多孔材料研究进程中存在的主要问题、发展前景及今后的研究方向。

Fish for the poor under a rising global demand and changing fishery regime

In the past, agricultural researchers tended to ignore the fisheries factor in global food and nutritional security. However, the role of fish is becoming critical as a result of changes in fisheries regimes, income distribution, demand and increasing international trade. Fish has become the fastest growing food commodity in international trade and this is raising concern for the supply of fish for poorer people. As a result, the impact of international trade regimes on fish supply and demand, and the consequences on the availability of fish for developing countries need to be studied. Policies aimed at increasing export earnings are in conflict with those aimed at increasing food security in third world countries. Fisheries policy research will need to focus on three primary areas which have an impact on the marginal and poorer communities of developing countries: increased international demand for low-value fish on the supply of poorer countries; improved aquaculture technologies and productivity on poorer and marginal farmers; and land and water allocation policy on productivity, food security and sustainability across farm, fishery and related sectors. The key to local food security is in the integration of agriculture, aquaculture and natural resources but an important focus on fisheries policy research will be to look at the linkages between societal, economic and natural systems in order to develop adequate and flexible solutions to achieve sustainable use of aquatic resources systems.

O consumo de bebidas alcoólicas: um fator de risco para além do alcoolismo

Esta tese analisa o fenômeno do consumo de bebidas alcoólicas desde quando o seu uso abusivo se tornou um problema de saúde - a ponto de ser reconhecido como doença (alcoolismo) - até a atualidade em que os seus consumidores, influenciados pela propaganda ou por uma opção de estilo de vida, acabam correndo riscos de contrair, além do alcoolismo, outras doenças (ex.: Cardiovasculares) ou de sofrer lesões (ex.: Acidentes de trânsito) em função desse ato de beber, mesmo, que socialmente. Na prática, essa situação acaba se refletindo na rede da saúde pública em que o SUS, junto com as operadoras de planos de saúde e as Organizações Sociais que atuam na área da saúde, não conseguem dar um atendimento condigno às pessoas com problemas decorrentes do uso de álcool. Soma-se a isso a ineficácia das Politicas Públicas voltadas para esse tipo de problemas sobre as quais tecemos alguns comentários, a saber: Política de Atenção Integral aos Usuários de Álcool e outras Drogas; Política Nacional de Promoção da Saúde; e Política Nacional sobre o Álcool. Dessa forma, de acordo com o objetivo geral dessa tese, analisamos o último estudo sobre a carga de doenças (Global Burden of Disease GBD) com a finalidade de mostrarmos essa associação entre doenças e lesões e o uso de álcool, como fator de risco, tanto no nível global quanto no Brasil. No complemento dessa análise foram analisados os óbitos decorrentes do alcoolismo no Brasil, bem como, os casos dessa doença cadastrados no Programa Saúde Família PSF.

Somos todos mamíferos? Uma análise do discurso médico sobre o aleitamento materno.

Trabalho realizamos uma análise do discurso médico sobre o aleitamento materno, durante a década de oitenta, após a implementação do PNIAM, em 1981, a partir de pesquisas em artigos do Jornal de Pediatria, a fim de compreender como ocorreram as modificações discursivas e institucionais sobre este tema. Atualmente encontramos inúmeras pesquisas sobre aleitamento materno, frutos da valorização da amamentação pela sociedade. No entanto, nem sempre o aleitamento foi valorizado e incentivado como nos dias atuais. Ao longo da história, o discurso médico refletiu o contexto vigente e serviu de sustentação aos interesses políticos sociais e econômicos. Modificou-se como parte de um processo, de uma construção. A análise do jornal revelou o predomínio da lógica higienista, sustentada por um discurso biologicista que naturalizou e disseminou a ideia de superioridade do leite materno. Com o objetivo de convencer os profissionais, instituições e a própria mulher, encontramos posições que refletem, sobretudo, as repercussões sociais decorrentes da entrada da mulher no mercado de trabalho.

Práticas colaborativas no ensino de funções: uma aplicação no Programa de Educação de Jovens e Adultos do município do Rio de Janeiro

Esse trabalho apresenta uma experiência com o Ensino Colaborativo (EC) no Programa de Educação de Jovens e Adultos em uma escola da rede municipal de ensino do Rio de Janeiro. Ele visa dar ferramentas ao docente que possibilitem o uso do Ensino Colaborativo, além de explicar e estruturar o uso dessa prática colaborativa no ensino de matemática. O trabalho mostra também um estudo comparativo entre duas turmas do Ensino de Jovens e Adultos de um colégio do munícipio do Rio de Janeiro, na qual o EC foi utilizado em apenas uma delas, e esse estudo, visa caracterizar as diferenças entre o EC e o ensino tradicional. O fato de ter desenvolvido esse estudo do EC no Ensino de Jovens e Adultos se deu pelo fato de ser uma modalidade de ensino cujo público, historicamente, apresenta algumas dificuldades no processo de aprendizagem e também por se tratar de uma modalidade de ensino na qual a diversidade de experiências se torna um diferencial para o desenvolvimento da prática colaborativa. As atividades propostas visam criar um ambiente propício para que a interação entre os alunos e entre professor e aluno(s) ocorra. Cada estudante deve ser capaz de confrontar ideias, dividir conhecimentos e desenvolver ou adquirir habilidades, ou seja, cada um deve buscar o seu desenvolvimento e também o de todos que estão a sua volta. Ao aliar a prática colaborativa com o ensino de funções, foi possível introduzir o conceito básico de função e mostrar aos discentes as diferentes formas de representar uma função e de que maneira o conceito de função está ligado a diversas áreas do conhecimento. Espera-se que com esse trabalho qualquer pessoa que deseje utilizar o Ensino Colaborativo, sinta-se encorajado e embasado para desenvolver tópicos do programa de Matemática utilizando essa prática pedagógica. É importante destacar que todas as estruturações sugeridas podem e devem ser adaptadas a cada realidade e às suas peculiaridades, pois além de ser uma prática que visa melhorar o processo de ensino aprendizagem, o EC pode ser usado como uma ferramenta de análise que permite a todos os indivíduos participantes ter um melhor entendimento da sociedade na qual estão inseridos

神农架巴山冷杉天然林凋落物特性的研究

神农架地区的巴山冷杉（Abies fargesii）林是秦巴山地重要的森林生态系统类型，长期以来其在水土保持、水源涵养、林产品供给等方面的生态服务功能受到了广泛的重视，近年来该类森林的生物地球化学循环正成为关注的热点。本文以神农架巴山冷杉天然林为研究对象，从其凋落物的数量、养分、能量3个方面入手，着重研究1)凋落物组成及其凋落量的月变化模式;2)凋落物养分含量及养分年归还量的特征;3）凋落物的能流量及其月变化模式。研究表明： 巴山冷杉天然林的年凋落量为5702.99kg.hm-2，处于亚热带森林年凋落量的范围内;巴山冷杉林的凋落物组成比较丰富，主要有落叶、落枝、球花、球果和其它五部分，其中以落叶为多，占总凋落量的46.00%;凋落量的月变化模式呈双峰型，分别在2006年10-11月和2007年4-5月达到峰值。 巴山冷杉林凋落物养分含量的大小顺序为：N＞K＞Ca＞P＞Mg;N、P、K、Ca、Mg的年归还量分别为：39.1063 kg.hm-2、4.5346 kg.hm-2、13.4367 kg.hm-2、5.4965 kg.hm-2、0.0911 kg.hm-2，以N的年归还量最多;就凋落物各组分的养分年归还量而言，落叶的养分归还量远远大于其余组分的养分归还量，占总归还量的52.65%。因此，不论凋落量还是养分归还量，巴山冷杉林凋落物中的落叶都占有绝对的优势。 在巴山冷杉林凋落物各组分中，干重热值介于20.60 KJ/g 至22.70 KJ/g之间，灰分浓度介于1.38%至5.94%之间，去灰分热值介于21.34 KJ/g至23.55KJ/g之间，充分表明了灰分对热值的影响。在各组分中，无论是干重热值还是去灰分热值，均以落叶的热值最高。从整年来看，落叶的热值在2006年10－11月和2007年6－7月较高。巴山冷杉林通过凋落物的年能流量为 12500.96 KJ.m-2，以落叶能流量最大，占总能流量的47.72%。通过计算凋落物的能流量占太阳有效辐射的百分数可以得出太阳辐射进入凋落物的转化效率，巴山冷杉林凋落物的能量转化效率为0.61%，这在亚热带和热带森林类型中属于中等水平。

Cage culture of sea bass in Malaysia

The article discusses the cage culture practice of sea bass (Lates calcarifer) in Malaysia. Problems on feed and seed supply and overcrowding are also discussed. Despite these problems, seabass cage culture still continuously booms.

Finite element solution of Navier Stokes equations adapted to a priori error estimates

The paper is based on qualitative properties of the solution of the Navier-Stokes equations for incompressible fluid, and on properties of their finite element solution. In problems with corner-like singularities (e.g. on the well-known L-shaped domain) usually some adaptive strategy is used. In this paper we present an alternative approach. For flow problems on domains with corner singularities we use the a priori error estimates and asymptotic expansion of the solution to derive an algorithm for refining the mesh near the corner. It gives very precise solution in a cheap way. We present some numerical results.

Comprehensive Property Retrieval and Measurement of Concrete Spalling Using Machine Vision for Post-Earthquake Safety Assessments

Active vibration control (AVC) is a relatively new technology for the mitigation of annoying human-induced vibrations in floors. However, recent technological developments have demonstrated its great potential application in this field. Despite this, when a floor is found to have problematic floor vibrations after construction the unfamiliar technology of AVC is usually avoided in favour of more common techniques, such as Tuned Mass Dampers (TMDs) which have a proven track record of successful application, particularly for footbridges and staircases. This study aims to investigate the advantages and disadvantages that AVC has, when compared with TMDs, for the application of mitigation of pedestrian-induced floor vibrations in offices. Simulations are performed using the results from a finite element model of a typical office layout that has a high vibration response level. The vibration problems on this floor are then alleviated through the use of both AVC and TMDs and the results of each mitigation configuration compared. The results of this study will enable a more informed decision to be made by building owners and structural engineers regarding suitable technologies for reducing floor vibrations.

Fractal dimension, wavelet shrinkage and anomaly detection for mine hunting

An anomaly detection approach is considered for the mine hunting in sonar imagery problem. The authors exploit previous work that used dual-tree wavelets and fractal dimension to adaptively suppress sand ripples and a matched filter as an initial detector. Here, lacunarity inspired features are extracted from the remaining false positives, again using dual-tree wavelets. A one-class support vector machine is then used to learn a decision boundary, based only on these false positives. The approach exploits the large quantities of 'normal' natural background data available but avoids the difficult requirement of collecting examples of targets in order to train a classifier. © 2012 The Institution of Engineering and Technology.

Beyond niche thinking: Market selection in science-based ventures

Matching a new technology to an appropriate market is a major challenge for new technology-based firms (NTBF). Such firms are often advised to target niche-markets where the firms and their technologies can establish themselves relatively free of incumbent competition. However, technologies are diverse in nature and do not benefit from identical strategies. In contrast to many Information and Communication Technology (ICT) innovations which build on an established knowledge base for fairly specific applications, technologies based on emerging science are often generic and so have a number of markets and applications open to them, each carrying considerable technological and market uncertainty. Each of these potential markets is part of a complex and evolving ecosystem from which the venture may have to access significant complementary assets in order to create and sustain commercial value. Based on dataset and case study research on UK advanced material university spin-outs (USO), we find that, contrary to conventional wisdom, the more commercially successful ventures were targeting mainstream markets by working closely with large, established competitors during early development. While niche markets promise protection from incumbent firms, science-based innovations, such as new materials, often require the presence, and participation, of established companies in order to create value. © 2012 IEEE.

Cooperative attitude synchronization in satellite swarms: A consensus approach

The present paper considers the problem of autonomous synchronization of attitudes in a swarm of spacecraft. Building upon our recent results on consensus on manifolds, we model the spacecraft as particles on SO(3) and drive these particles to a common point in SO(3). Unlike the Euler angle or quaternion descriptions, this model suffers no singularities nor double-points. Our approach is fully cooperative and autonomous: we use no leader nor external reference. We present two types of control laws, in terms of applied control torques, that globally drive the swarm towards attitude synchronization: one that requires tree-like or all-to-all inter-satellite communication (most efficient) and one that works with nearly arbitrary communication (most robust).

Improving intermediate pressure turbine performance by using a nonorthogonal stator

Intermediate pressure (IP) turbines in high bypass ratio civil aeroengines are characterized by a significant increase in radius and a low aspect ratio stator. Conventional aerodynamic designs for the IP turbine stator have had leading and trailing edges orthogonal to the hub and casing end walls. The IP turbine rotor, however, is stacked radially due to stress limits. These choices inevitably lead to a substantial gap between the IP stator and rotor at the outer diameter in a duct that is generally diffusing the flow due to the increasing radius. In this low Mach number study, the IP stator is redesigned, incorporating compound sweep so that the leading and trailing edges are no longer orthogonal to the end walls. Computational investigations showed that the nonorthogonal stator reduces the flow diffusion between the stator and rotor, which yields two benefits: The stator trailing edge velocity was reduced, as was the boundary layer growth on the casing end wall within the gap. Experimental measurements confirm that the turbine with the nonorthogonal stator has an increased efficiency by 0.49%, while also increasing the work output by 4.6%, at the design point. © 2014 by ASME.