Markov chain splitting methods in structural reliability integral estimation

Monte Carlo simulation methods involving splitting of Markov chains have been used in evaluation of multi-fold integrals in different application areas. We examine in this paper the performance of these methods in the context of evaluation of reliability integrals from the point of view of characterizing the sampling fluctuations. The methods discussed include the Au-Beck subset simulation, Holmes-Diaconis-Ross method, and generalized splitting algorithm. A few improvisations based on first order reliability method are suggested to select algorithmic parameters of the latter two methods. The bias and sampling variance of the alternative estimators are discussed. Also, an approximation to the sampling distribution of some of these estimators is obtained. Illustrative examples involving component and series system reliability analyses are presented with a view to bring out the relative merits of alternative methods. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Economic tradeoffs in mitigation, due to different atmospheric lifetimes of CO2 and black carbon

Tradeoffs are examined between mitigating black carbon (BC) and carbon dioxide (CO2) for limiting peak global mean warming, using the following set of methods. A two-box climate model is used to simulate temperatures of the atmosphere and ocean for different rates of mitigation. Mitigation rates for BC and CO2 are characterized by respective timescales for e-folding reduction in emissions intensity of gross global product. There are respective emissions models that force the box model. Lastly there is a simple economics model, with cost of mitigation varying inversely with emission intensity. Constant mitigation timescale corresponds to mitigation at a constant annual rate, for example an e-folding timescale of 40 years corresponds to 2.5% reduction each year. Discounted present cost depends only on respective mitigation timescale and respective mitigation cost at present levels of emission intensity. Least-cost mitigation is posed as choosing respective e-folding timescales, to minimize total mitigation cost under a temperature constraint (e.g. within 2 degrees C above preindustrial). Peak warming is more sensitive to mitigation timescale for CO2 than for BC. Therefore rapid mitigation of CO2 emission intensity is essential to limiting peak warming, but simultaneous mitigation of BC can reduce total mitigation expenditure. (c) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A zero charge-pump mismatch current tracking loop for reference spur reduction in PLLs

The charge-pump (CP) mismatch current is a dominant source of static phase error and reference spur in the nano-meter CMOS PLL implementations due to its worsened channel length modulation effect. This paper presents a charge-pump (CP) mismatch current reduction technique utilizing an adaptive body bias tuning of CP transistors and a zero CP mismatch current tracking PLL architecture for reference spur suppression. A chip prototype of the proposed circuit was implemented in 0.13 mu m CMOS technology. The frequency synthesizer consumes 8.2 mA current from a 13 V supply voltage and achieves a phase noise of -96.01 dBc/Hz @ 1 MHz offset from a 2.4 GHz RF carrier. The charge-pump measurements using the proposed calibration technique exhibited a mismatch current of less than 0.3 mu A (0.55%) over the VCO control voltage range of 0.3-1.0 V. The closed loop measurements show a minimized static phase error of within +/- 70 ps and a similar or equal to 9 dB reduction in reference spur level across the PLL output frequency range 2.4-2.5 GHz. The presented CP calibration technique compensates for the DC current mismatch and the mismatch due to channel length modulation effect and therefore improves the performance of CP-PLLs in nano-meter CMOS implementations. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The crystal structure of a lectin from Butea monosperma: Insight into its glycosylation and binding of ligands

Crystal structure of a lectin purified from Butea monosperma seeds was determined by Molecular Replacement method. Its primary structure was determined by Tandem Mass Spectroscopy and electron density maps from X-ray diffraction data. Its quaternary structure was tetrameric, formed of two monomers, alpha and beta, beta appearing as truncated alpha. The occurrence of two tetramers in the asymmetric unit of the crystal might be a consequence of asymmetric contacts due to difference in glycosylation and variable loops structures, to form an `octamer-structure'. The crystal structure showed binding pockets for gamma Abu, having a proposed role in plant defense, at the interface of canonical dimer-partners. Hemagglutination studies, enzyme kinetics, isothermal titration calorimetry and molecular dynamics showed that the lectin is specific to N-acetyl D-galactosamine, galactose and lactose in decreasing order, and alpha-amylase inhibitor. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A comparison of the fine-scale structure of the diurnal cycle of tropical rain and lightning

In this study, the fine-scale structure of the diurnal variability of ground-based lightning is systematically compared with satellite-based rain. At the outset, it is shown that tropical variability of lightning exhibits a prominent diurnal mode, much like rain. A comparison of the geographical distribution of the timing of the diurnal maximum shows that there is very good agreement between the two observables over continental and coastal regions throughout the tropics. Following this global tropical comparison, we focus on two regions, Borneo and equatorial South America, both of which show the interplay between oceanward and landward propagations of the phase of the diurnal maximum. Over Borneo, both rain and lightning clearly show a climatological cycle of ``breathing in'' (afternoon to early morning) and ``breathing out'' (morning to early afternoon). Over the equatorial east coast of South America, landward propagation is noticed in rain and lightning from early afternoon to early morning. Along the Pacific coast of South America, both rain and lightning show oceanward propagation. Though qualitatively consistent, over both regions the propagation is seen to extend further in rainfall. Additionally, given that lightning highlights vigorous convection, the timing of its diurnal maximum often precedes that of rainfall in the convective life cycle. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

DETERMINISTIC ALGORITHMS FOR MATCHING AND PACKING PROBLEMS BASED ON REPRESENTATIVE SETS

In this work, we study the well-known r-DIMENSIONAL k-MATCHING ((r, k)-DM), and r-SET k-PACKING ((r, k)-SP) problems. Given a universe U := U-1 ... U-r and an r-uniform family F subset of U-1 x ... x U-r, the (r, k)-DM problem asks if F admits a collection of k mutually disjoint sets. Given a universe U and an r-uniform family F subset of 2(U), the (r, k)-SP problem asks if F admits a collection of k mutually disjoint sets. We employ techniques based on dynamic programming and representative families. This leads to a deterministic algorithm with running time O(2.851((r-1)k) .vertical bar F vertical bar. n log(2)n . logW) for the weighted version of (r, k)-DM, where W is the maximum weight in the input, and a deterministic algorithm with running time O(2.851((r-0.5501)k).vertical bar F vertical bar.n log(2) n . logW) for the weighted version of (r, k)-SP. Thus, we significantly improve the previous best known deterministic running times for (r, k)-DM and (r, k)-SP and the previous best known running times for their weighted versions. We rely on structural properties of (r, k)-DM and (r, k)-SP to develop algorithms that are faster than those that can be obtained by a standard use of representative sets. Incorporating the principles of iterative expansion, we obtain a better algorithm for (3, k)-DM, running in time O(2.004(3k).vertical bar F vertical bar . n log(2)n). We believe that this algorithm demonstrates an interesting application of representative families in conjunction with more traditional techniques. Furthermore, we present kernels of size O(e(r)r(k-1)(r) logW) for the weighted versions of (r, k)-DM and (r, k)-SP, improving the previous best known kernels of size O(r!r(k-1)(r) logW) for these problems.

Effect of Ga content in Cu(Ga) on the growth of V3Ga following bronze technique

Diffusion controlled growth rate of V3Ga in the Cu(Ga)/V system changes dramatically because of a small change in Ga content in Cu(Ga). One atomic percent increase from 15 to 16 leads to more than double the product phase layer thickness and a decrease in activation energy from 255 to 142 kJ/mol. Kirkendall marker experiment indicates that V3Ga grows because of diffusion of Ga. Role of different factors influencing the diffusion rate of Ga and high growth rate of V3Ga are discussed. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reply to Discussion on ``Bearing capacity of circular footings over rock mass by using axisymmetric quasi lower bound finite element limit analysis'' Comput. Geotech. 70 (2015) 138-149]

A discussion has been provided for the comments raised by the discusser (Clausen, 2015)1] on the article recently published by the authors (Chakraborty and Kumar, 2015). The effect of exponent alpha for values of GSI approximately smaller than 30 becomes more critical. On the other hand, for greater values of GSI, the results obtained by the authors earlier remain primarily independent of alpha and can be easily used. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development of an automated ultrasonic spray pyrolysis system and the growth of Cu2ZnSnS4 thin films

An automated ultrasonic spray pyrolysis system is fabricated for the growth of thin films. The system is equipped with x-y movement and enables film deposition in different patterns and spray rates. Cu-2(Zn,Sn)S-4 (CZTS) films are deposited using this setup. The substrate temperature (T-s) is varied from 240 to 490 degrees C. Kesterite CZTS phase is observed in all the films together with binary phases. The films prepared at T-s <340 degrees C showed SnxSy phase and those at T-s >340 degrees C showed Cu2S phase. Sulfur incorporation is maximum (40%) at 440 degrees C and the films showed better morphology. The Cu and S concentrations are varied to remove binary phases. Depth wise elemental analysis confirmed the existence of single phase CZTS. p-Type CZTS films of resistivity in the range of 10(2)-10(3) Omega cm are obtained. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Thermoelectric properties of indium doped Cu2CdSnSe4

Recently, research in copper-based quaternary chalcogenide materials has been found to be interesting for the study of thermoelectric properties because of their low thermal conductivity due to complex crystal structures. In the present work, stoichiometric quaternary chalcogenide compounds Cu2CdSn1-xInxSe4(x = 0, 0.025, 0.05, 0.1) were prepared by solid state synthesis. The powder X-ray diffraction patterns of all the samples showed a tetragonal crystal structure with the space group I (4) over bar 2m of the main phase. In addition to this phase, a small amount of impurity phase CdSe was present in all the samples, as confirmed by Rietveld analysis. The elemental composition of all the samples characterized by an Electron Probe Micro Analyzer showed a slight deviation from the nominal composition. The transport properties were measured in the temperature range of 350 K-723 K. The positive Seebeck coefficient of all the compounds indicate that the majority carriers are holes. The Seebeck coefficient and electrical resistivity did not follow the trend in the expected manner with In doping, which could be influenced by the presence of the impurity phases. The total thermal conductivity of all the samples was dominated by the lattice thermal conductivity, while the electronic contribution was very small due to the low carrier contribution. A lattice thermal conductivity decrease with an increase of temperature indicates the dominance of phonon-phonon scattering at higher temperatures. The maximum figure of merit zT = 0.30 at 723 K was obtained for the compound Cu2CdSn0.9In0.1Se4. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A mode-shape classification technique for robust speech rate estimation and syllable nuclei detection

Acoustic feature based speech (syllable) rate estimation and syllable nuclei detection are important problems in automatic speech recognition (ASR), computer assisted language learning (CALL) and fluency analysis. A typical solution for both the problems consists of two stages. The first stage involves computing a short-time feature contour such that most of the peaks of the contour correspond to the syllabic nuclei. In the second stage, the peaks corresponding to the syllable nuclei are detected. In this work, instead of the peak detection, we perform a mode-shape classification, which is formulated as a supervised binary classification problem - mode-shapes representing the syllabic nuclei as one class and remaining as the other. We use the temporal correlation and selected sub-band correlation (TCSSBC) feature contour and the mode-shapes in the TCSSBC feature contour are converted into a set of feature vectors using an interpolation technique. A support vector machine classifier is used for the classification. Experiments are performed separately using Switchboard, TIMIT and CTIMIT corpora in a five-fold cross validation setup. The average correlation coefficients for the syllable rate estimation turn out to be 0.6761, 0.6928 and 0.3604 for three corpora respectively, which outperform those obtained by the best of the existing peak detection techniques. Similarly, the average F-scores (syllable level) for the syllable nuclei detection are 0.8917, 0.8200 and 0.7637 for three corpora respectively. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evaluación productiva y reproductiva del hato de la finca "San Benito" Telica, León, Nicaragua

El presente trabajo se realizó con el objetivo de estudiar el efecto de los diferentes factores ambientales y genético (RAZAV, NUMPA, AÑOP, EPOCA), sobre el comportamiento productivo y reproductivo de un hato bovino del municipio de Telica, departamento de León, en la finca "San Benito". Además se caracterizó la curva general de lactancia para la cual se utilizó el modelo Yx = axb e-ex. En donde "a" es el parámetro asociado con la producción inicial, "b" señala el ascenso al pico, "c" es la declinación de la producción post-pico y Yx es la producción diaria en el período "x". Se analizaron los registros productivos y reproductivos correspondiente al período de 1990 a 1992, las características estudiadas fueron: PLTOT, PL305, LARLA e IEP. En el análisis se utilizó el procedimiento de mínimos cuadrados mediante el análisis de varianza , se evaluó el efecto de raza, nOmero de parto, año de parto y época de parto. Este análisis mostró un efecto altamente significativo (p<0.01) del año de parto sobre las características PLTOT, PL305 y LARLA. La época de parto resultó altamente significativa (p<0.01), para las características PL305 y LARLA, y resultó significativa (p<0.05), para PLTOT. EL efecto de la raza de la vaca y el número de parto resultó no significativo para todas las variables estudiadas, así mismo, el estudio de las características: intervalo entre parto resultó no significativa Las medias de mínimos cuadrados reportados en este estudio fueron: 1287.30±464.77 kg, 1392.99±554.53 kg ,277.72 días y 468.06±32.62 días para PLTOT, PL305, LARLA e IEP respectivamente, resultando estos valores superiores a los reportados a nivel nacional. Las medias de mínimos cuadrados para los parámetros de la curva de lactancia fueron: 3.37±3.17, 0.36±0.24" 0.005±0.004 para “a”, "b" y "c" respectivamente.

Análisis de la relación entre optimismo, calidad de vida y estabilidad emocional en personas con cáncer

Resumen: Este estudio se propuso analizar la relación del optimismo con ansiedad, depresión y calidad de vida global en una muestra de 45 pacientes oncológicos, 34% hombres y 66% mujeres con un promedio de 50,5 años y un rango de 21 a 74 años. Según la localización de la neoplasia se conformó una muestra mixta. Para este trabajo se realizó un muestreo no probabilístico con control de las variables: estadio de la enfermedad, fase y tipo de tratamiento médico/clínico, equipo médico actuante y enfermedades concomitantes. Cumplió con las normas éticas establecidas (FePRA, 2013; Helsinki, 2008). Para evaluar optimismo se administró la versión española del LOT-R (Otero, Luengo, Romero y Castro, 1998), para Calidad de Vida el cuestionario FACT-G en su 4ta versión (Cella, Tulsky, Gray, 1993) y para ansiedad y depresión la versión española de la escala HAD (Caro & Ibáñez, 1992). Se encontraron correlaciones significativas entre optimismo con cada una de las variables en estudio y se reportaron diferencias significativas entre los pesimistas y los optimistas en Ansiedad (F= 6.35, p = .015); Depresión (F= 5.30, p = .026) y Calidad de Vida (F= 8.99, p = .004).

Efecto de tres distancias de siembra sobre el rendimiento de tres variedades de tabaco habano (Nicotiana tabacum L.), en el municipio de Condega, Esteli

El presente estudio se desarrolló en la finca Cerro Azul, Comunidad de San Pedro, municipio de Condega, Estelí, situado a 620 msnm, 14° 72' 24'' Latitud Norte y 86° 56' 30'' Longitud Oeste, con el objetivo de evaluar el efecto de tres distancia de siembra de siembra (30.48, 35.56 y 40.64 cm) sobre el rendimiento de tres variedades de tabaco (Habano Criollo 751, Habano 2,000 y Habano 98). El ensayo se estableció en febrero del año 2,004. Se utilizó un diseño en Bloques Completos al Azar (BCA) con arreglos en Parcelas Divididas con cuatro réplicas, ubicando en las parcelas grandes las distancias de siembra. A los resultados obtenidos se les realizó un análisis de varianza (ANDEVA) y separación de medias a través de la prueba de rangos múltiples de Tukey con un 95 % de confianza (8=0.05). Los resultados del estudio determinaron que las densidades estudiadas no presentaron efecto significativo en las variables evaluadas. Por otro lado, las variedades de Habano evaluadas demostraron alta significación estadística en la altura de planta y cortes realizados. Para el caso de la distancia entre plantas, los mayores promedios se observaron a los 60 DDT en la densidad de 30,629 plantas ha-1 con 127.78 cm y el menor valor la densidad de 26 814 plantas ha-1 con 120.98 cm. La variedad Habano 2 000 mostró la mayor altura con 128.92 cm, y 121.28 cm la variedad Habano Criollo con 121.28 cm. La mayor longitud de hoja se obtuvo en la densidad de 30 629 plantas ha-1 con un valor promedio de 49.41 cm, y la menor longitud de obtuvo en 35,725 plantas ha-1. Habano Criollo y Habano 2000 presentaron longitud de 49.55 y 49.10 cm. El peso final al beneficiado presentó diferencias estadísticas a los 94 y 102 ddt, siendo la densidad de 35,725 plantas ha-1 la de mayores valores (582.78 y 692.06kg ha-1) y la de menor promedio la densidad 26,814 (483.92 y 628.57 kg ha-1). La variedad Habano 98 evaluada a los 102 ddt mostró 684.78 kg ha-1 y 624.41 kg ha-1 para Habano Criollo. El cultivar Habano 98 con la menor distancia de siembra presentó la mejor relación Beneficio/Costo, obteniendo una ganancia de 2.03 dólar por cada dólar invertido.

Biomasa y nutrientes de arboles de sombra temporal y permanente en sistemas agroforestales con Coffea arabiga L de cinco años en el Pacifico de Nicaragua

Chavarria, E; Hernández, J. 2,006. Biomasa y nutrientes de árboles de sombra temporal y permanente en sistemas agroforestales con Coffea arabiga L de 5 años en el pacífico de Nicaragua. La presente investigación se realizó en sistemas agroforestales con café (Coffea arábiga L.) en el Municipio de Masatepe, Nicaragua, determinando el aporte de biomasa y los contenidos de N, P, K, Ca y Mg. de la sombra temporal y permanente. Se evaluaron dos factores de estudio en un diseño de bloques completamente al azar con arreglo de parcelas subdivididas: A) Tipo de sombra: temporal estableciéndose de forma homogénea y mixtas, especies de leguminosas más no leguminosas para sombra de café como Cajanus cajan y Ricinus communis y en sombra permanente, especies de árboles leguminosas y/o maderables (Inga laurina, Simarouba glauca, Samanea saman, Tabebuia rosea) y una parcela de café a pleno sol, distribuidas en parcelas grandes; B) Los niveles de insumos: Convencional Intensivo (CI) y Convencional Extensivo (CE), Orgánico Intensivo (OI) y Orgánico Extensivo (OE); relativos a aportes de nutrientes, manejo de enfermedades, malezas e insectos dañinos. La biomasa de sombra temporal se cuantificó en 2,002 por podas y 2,003 por eliminación de la misma. También se cuantificó la biomasa en la sombra permanente por podas en 2,004 y de raleo 2,005. La biomasa total por especie y tratamientos en sombra temporal y permanente, se obtuvieron a partir de los componentes hojas, tallos menores a 2 cm, tallos mayores de 2 cm de diámetro y tronco. Se tomó una muestra de biomasa fresca por tratamiento, se secó al horno a temperaturas de 65 ºC, para obtener el contenido de materia seca. A este mismo material, se procedió a la determinación de las concentraciones de los elementos minerales anteriormente mencionados. Los resultados obtenidos mostraron que la especie de sombra temporal no leguminosa Higuera (Ricinus communis) presentó el mayor aporte de materia seca con 4,356 kg ha-1 en dos años (2,002 + 2,003), representando también los mayores contenidos de N, P, K, Ca y Mg con 82, 28, 165, 68 y 57 kg ha-1 respectivamente. Respecto a las especies de sombra permanente, sometidas al manejo de poda el nivel de sombra Il+Sg produce los mayores aportes de MS con 5,695.66 kg ha-1 a-1 de los cuales el 39 % se recicla en el sistema, este mismo tipo de sombra aporta al sistema los mayores contenidos de N, P, K, Ca y Mg con 64, 55, 55, 66 y 36 % respectivamente. En el manejo de raleo el tipo de sombra que produjo mayor cantidad de MS es Sg+Tr con 9,096.89 kg ha-1 a-1 aportando al sistema el 45 %, este mismo tipo de sombra aporta al sistema las mayores cantidades de N, P, K, Ca y Mg con 67, 54, 70, 80 y 44 % respectivamente. Los porcentaje restante de materia seca y nutrientes tanto en poda y raleo correspondiente a tallos mayores de 2 cm de diámetro, es extraído del sistema como leña y postes respectivamente.