process trustworthiness as a capability indicator for measuring and improving software trustworthiness

Chinese Acad Sci, ISCAS Lab Internet Software Technologies

Strengthening carbon deposition of polyolefin using combined catalyst as a general method for improving fire retardancy

Combination of Ni2O3 and solid acid with Bronsted acid sites and Lewis acid sites (such as HZSM-5 and H-beta) could dramatically improve fire retardancy of polyolefin, including polypropylene and linear low-density polyethylene. This is mainly attributed to the formation of a large amount of residual char from degradation products of polyolefin in the intermediate stage of combustion. Thus, the amount of flammable components diffusing into the flame zone was small.

Improving performance of polymer photovoltaic devices using an annealing-free approach via construction of ordered aggregates in solution

Low crystalline order has been proved to be one of the main hindrances for achieving high performance devices based on thin films composed of crystallizable polymer. In this work, we use a facile method to substantially improve crystallinity of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) in its pure or composite film via the construction of ordered precursors in the solution used for thin film deposition. These improvements have been confirmed by bright-field transmission electron micrography, electron diffraction, UV-Vis absorption and wide-angle X-ray diffraction.

Promoting carbonization of polypropylene during combustion through synergistic catalysis of a trace of halogenated compounds and Ni2O3 for improving flame retardancy

The effect of combination between a trace of halogenated compounds (such as ferric chloride and ammonium bromide) and Ni2O3 particles on the carbonization of polypropylene (PP) was investigated during combustion. The results showed a synergistic catalysis of combined halogenated compounds with Ni2O3 in promoting the formation of the residual char during combustion. The investigation on the promotion mechanism showed that halide radical releasing from halogen-containing additives worked as a catalyst to accelerate dehydrogenation-aromatization of degradation products of PR which promote the degradation products to form the residual char catalyzed by nickel catalyst.

Combination of Carbon Nanotubes with Ni2O3 for Simultaneously Improving the Flame Retardancy and Mechanical Properties of Polyethylene

Effects of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and Ni2O3 on the flame retardancy of linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) have been studied. A combination of MWCNTs and Ni2O3 showed a synergistic effect in improving the flame retardancy of LLDPE compared with LLDPE composites containing MWCNTs or Ni2O3 alone. As a result, the peak value of heat release rate measured by cone calorimeter was obviously decreased in the LLDPE/MWCNTs/Ni2O3 Composites. According to the results from rheological tests, carbonization experiments, and structural characterization of residual char, the improved flame retardancy was partially attributed to the formation of a networklike structure due to the good dispersion of MWCNTs in LLDPE matrix, and partially to the carbonization of degradation products of LLDPE catalyzed by Ni catalyst originated from Ni2O3, More importantly, both viscoelastic characteristics and catalytic carbonization behavior of LLDPE/MWCNTs/Ni2O3 composites acted in concert to result in a synergistic effect in improving the flame retardancy.

On improving the phase stability and thermal expansion coefficients of lanthanum cerium oxide solid solutions

The phase stability of lanthanum cerium oxide (La2Ce2O7), which is stable up to 1400 degrees C, and the thermal expansion coefficient of La2Ce2O7 doped with Ta2O5 or WO3 were studied. The thermal expansion coefficient of La2Ce2O7 below 400 degrees C was increased by adding more CeO2 or doping with either Ta2O5 or WO3.

Improving Ship Detection with Polarimetric SAR based on Convolution between Co-polarization Channels

The convolution between co-polarization amplitude only data is studied to improve ship detection performance. The different statistical behaviors of ships and surrounding ocean are characterized a by two-dimensional convolution function (2D-CF) between different polarization channels. The convolution value of the ocean decreases relative to initial data, while that of ships increases. Therefore the contrast of ships to ocean is increased. The opposite variation trend of ocean and ships can distinguish the high intensity ocean clutter from ships' signatures. The new criterion can generally avoid mistaken detection by a constant false alarm rate detector. Our new ship detector is compared with other polarimetric approaches, and the results confirm the robustness of the proposed method.

电阻率测井反演方法应用研究

Formation resistivity is one of the most important parameters to be evaluated in the evaluation of reservoir. In order to acquire the true value of virginal formation, various types of resistivity logging tools have been developed. However, with the increment of the proved reserves, the thickness of interest pay zone is becoming thinner and thinner, especially in the terrestrial deposit oilfield, so that electrical logging tools, limited by the contradictory requirements of resolution and investigation depth of this kinds of tools, can not provide the true value of the formation resistivity. Therefore, resitivity inversion techniques have been popular in the determination of true formation resistivity based on the improving logging data from new tools. In geophysical inverse problems, non-unique solution is inevitable due to the noisy data and deficient measurement information. I address this problem in my dissertation from three aspects, data acquisition, data processing/inversion and applications of the results/ uncertainty evaluation of the non-unique solution. Some other problems in the traditional inversion methods such as slowness speed of the convergence and the initial-correlation results. Firstly, I deal with the uncertainties in the data to be processed. The combination of micro-spherically focused log (MSFL) and dual laterolog(DLL) is the standard program to determine formation resistivity. During the inversion, the readings of MSFL are regarded as the resistivity of invasion zone of the formation after being corrected. However, the errors can be as large as 30 percent due to mud cake influence even if the rugose borehole effects on the readings of MSFL can be ignored. Furthermore, there still are argues about whether the two logs can be quantitatively used to determine formation resisitivities due to the different measurement principles. Thus, anew type of laterolog tool is designed theoretically. The new tool can provide three curves with different investigation depths and the nearly same resolution. The resolution is about 0.4meter. Secondly, because the popular iterative inversion method based on the least-square estimation can not solve problems more than two parameters simultaneously and the new laterolog logging tool is not applied to practice, my work is focused on two parameters inversion (radius of the invasion and the resistivty of virgin information ) of traditional dual laterolog logging data. An unequal weighted damp factors- revised method is developed to instead of the parameter-revised techniques used in the traditional inversion method. In this new method, the parameter is revised not only dependency on the damp its self but also dependency on the difference between the measurement data and the fitting data in different layers. At least 2 iterative numbers are reduced than the older method, the computation cost of inversion is reduced. The damp least-squares inversion method is the realization of Tikhonov's tradeoff theory on the smooth solution and stability of inversion process. This method is realized through linearity of non-linear inversion problem which must lead to the dependency of solution on the initial value of parameters. Thus, severe debates on efficiency of this kinds of methods are getting popular with the developments of non-linear processing methods. The artificial neural net method is proposed in this dissertation. The database of tool's response to formation parameters is built through the modeling of the laterolog tool and then is used to training the neural nets. A unit model is put forward to simplify the dada space and an additional physical limitation is applied to optimize the net after the cross-validation method is done. Results show that the neural net inversion method could replace the traditional inversion method in a single formation and can be used a method to determine the initial value of the traditional method. No matter what method is developed, the non-uniqueness and uncertainties of the solution could be inevitable. Thus, it is wise to evaluate the non-uniqueness and uncertainties of the solution in the application of inversion results. Bayes theorem provides a way to solve such problems. This method is illustrately discussed in a single formation and achieve plausible results. In the end, the traditional least squares inversion method is used to process raw logging data, the calculated oil saturation increased 20 percent than that not be proceed compared to core analysis.

Convergence Results for the EM Approach to Mixtures of Experts Architectures

The Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm is an iterative approach to maximum likelihood parameter estimation. Jordan and Jacobs (1993) recently proposed an EM algorithm for the mixture of experts architecture of Jacobs, Jordan, Nowlan and Hinton (1991) and the hierarchical mixture of experts architecture of Jordan and Jacobs (1992). They showed empirically that the EM algorithm for these architectures yields significantly faster convergence than gradient ascent. In the current paper we provide a theoretical analysis of this algorithm. We show that the algorithm can be regarded as a variable metric algorithm with its searching direction having a positive projection on the gradient of the log likelihood. We also analyze the convergence of the algorithm and provide an explicit expression for the convergence rate. In addition, we describe an acceleration technique that yields a significant speedup in simulation experiments.

Program, abstracts and related documents.

The context: Soil biodiversity and sustainable agriculture; Abstracts - Theme 1: Monitoring and assessment: Bioindicators of soil health: assessment and monitoring for sustainable agriculture; Practical tools to measure soil health and their use by farmers; Biological soil quality from biomass to biodiversity - importance and resilience to management stress and disturbance; Integrated management of plant-parasitic nematodes in maize-bean cropping systems; Microbial quantitative and qualitative changes in soils under different crops and tillage management systems in Brazil; Diversity in the rhizobia associated with Phaseolus vulgaris L: in Ecuador and comparisons with Mexican bean rhizobia; Sistemas integrados ganadería-agricultura en Cuba; Soil macrofauna as bioindicator of soil quality; Biological functioning of cerrado soils; Hydrolysis of fluorescein diacetate as a soil quality indicator in different pasture systems; Soil management and soil macrofauna communities at Embrapa Soybean, Londrina, Brazil; Soil macrofauna in a 24 - year old no-tillage system in Paraná, Brazil; Invertebrate macrofauna of soils inpastures under different forms of management in the cerrado (Brazil); Soil tillage modifies the invertebrate soil macrofauna community; Soil macrofauna in various tillage and land use systems on an oxisols near Londrina, Paraná, Brazil; Interference of agricultural systems on soil macrofauna; Scarab beetle-grub holes in various tillage and crop management systems at Embrapa Soybean, Londrina, Brazil; Biological management of agroecosystems; Soil biota and nutrient dynamics through litterfall in agroforestry system in Rondônia, Amazônia, Brazil; Soil-C stocks and earthworm diversity of native and introduced pastures in Veracruz, Mexico; Theme 2 : Adaptive management: Some thoughts on the effects and implications of the transition from weedy multi-crop to wead-free mono-crop systems in Africa; Towards sustainable agriculture with no-tillage and crop rotation systems in South Brazil; Effect of termites on crusted soil rehabilitation in the Sahel; Management of macrofauna in traditional and conventional agroforestry systems from India with special reference to termites and earthworms; Adaptive management for redeveloping traditional agroecosystems; Conservation and sustainable use of soil biodiversity: learning with master nature!; Convergence of sciences: inclusive technology innovation processes for better integrated crop/vegetation, soil and biodiversity management; Potential for increasing soil biodiversity in agroecosystems; Biological nitrogen fixation and sustainability in the tropics; Theme 3: Research and innovation: Plant flavonoids and cluster roots as modifiers of soil biodiversity; The significance of biological diversity in agricultural soil for disease suppressiveness and nutrient retention; Linking above - and belowground biodiversity: a comparison of agricultural systems; Insect-pests in biologically managed oil and crops: the experience at ICRISAT; Sistemas agricolas micorrizados en Cuba; The effect of velvetbean (Mucuna pruriens) on the tropical earthworm Balanteodrilus pearsei: a management option for maize crops in the Mexican humid tropics; The potential of earthworms and organic matter quality in the rehabilitation of tropical soils; Research and innovation in biological management of soil ecosystems; Application of biodynamic methods in the Egyptian cotton sector; Theme 4: Capacity building and mainstreaming: Soil ecology and biodiversity: a quick scan of its importance for government policy in The Netherlands; Agrotechnological transfer of legume inoculants in Eastern and Southern Africa; Agricultura urbana en Cuba; Soil carbon sequestration for sustaining agricultural production and improving the environment; Conservation and sustainable management of below-ground biodiversity: the TSBF-BGBD network project; The tropical soil biology and fertility institute of CIAT (TSBF); South-South initiative for training and capacity building for the management of soil biology/biodiversity; Strategies to facilititate development and adoption of integrated resource management for sustainable production and productivity improvement; The challenge program on biological nitrogen fixation (CPBNF); Living soil training for farmers: improving knowledge and skills in soil nutrition management; Do we need an inter-governmental panel on land and soil (IPLS)? Protection and sustainable use of biodiversity of soils; Cases Studies -- Plant parasitic nematodes associated with common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and integrated management approaches; Agrotechnological transfer of legume inoculants in Eastern and Southern Africa; Restoring soil fertility and enhancing productivity in Indian tea plantations with earthworms and organic fertilizers; Managing termites and organic resources to improve soil productivity in the Sahel; Overview and case studies on biological nitrogen fixation: perspectives and limitations; Soil biodiversity and sustainable agriculture: an overview.

Alleviating poverty in peri-urban Ethiopia by improving the health, welfare and management of donkeys: "Promoting peri-urban livelihoods through better donkey welfare".

Proceedings of a workshop held at Debre Zeit, Ethiopia. October 2000

Improving accessibility in discussion forums

No data (2013)

Improving bilingual higher education: Training university professors in content and language integrated learning

With increasing international mobility, higher education must cater to the varying linguistic and cultural needs of students. Successful delivery of courses through English as the vehicular language is essential to encourage international enrollment. However, this cannot be achieved without preparing university professors in the many intricacies delivering their subjects in English may pose. This paper aims to: share preliminary data concerning Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) at Laureate Network Universities worldwide as few studies have been conducted at the tertiary level, reflect upon data regarding student and teacher satisfaction with CLIL at the Universidad Europea de Madrid (UEM), and to propose improvements in English-taught subjects.

Improving ICP with Easy Implementation for Free Form Surface Matching

Liu, Yonghuai. Improving ICP with Easy Implementation for Free Form Surface Matching. Pattern Recognition, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 211-226, 2004.

Most Haunted and the Convergence of Traditional Belief and Popular Television

Koven, M. (2007). Most Haunted and the Convergence of Traditional Belief and Popular Television. Folklore. 118(2), pp.183-202. RAE2008