Note on the occurrence of a terrestrial isopod, Hemilepistus klugii (Brandt) in Baluchistan, Pakistan

During a computer-aided search of the Crustacea collection in the Department of Invertebrate Zoology at the Smithsonian Institution (USNM), a record was found for the existence of Hemilepistus klugii (Brandt, 1833) in Pakistan.

Multi-objective foundation optimization and its application to pile reuse

Pile reuse has become an increasingly popular option in foundation design, mainly due to its potential cost and environmental benefits and the problem of underground congestion in urban areas. However, key geotechnical concerns remain regarding the behavior of reused piles and the modeling of foundation systems involving old and new piles to support building loads of the new structure. In this paper, a design and analysis tool for pile reuse projects will be introduced. The tool allows coupling of superstructure stiffness with the foundation model, and includes an optimization algorithm to obtain the best configuration of new piles to work alongside reused piles. Under the concept of Pareto Optimality, multi-objective optimization analyses can also reveal the relationship between material usage and the corresponding foundation performance, providing a series of reuse options at various foundation costs. The components of this analysis tool will be discussed and illustrated through a case history in London, where 110 existing piles are reused at a site to support the proposed new development. The case history reveals the difficulties faced by foundation reuse in urban areas and demonstrates the application of the design tool to tackle these challenges. © ASCE 2011.

A whole-life value based assessment and optimisation model for high-performance glazed facades'

Façade design is a complex and multi-disciplinary process. One major barrier to devising optimal façade solutions is the lack of a systematic way of evaluating the true social, economic and environmental impacts of a design. Another barrier is the lack of automated design aids to assist decision-making. In this paper, we present our on-going study in developing a whole-life value based multi-objective optimisation model for high-performance façades. The principal outcome of this paper is a multi-objective optimisation model for early-stage façade design. The optimisation technique coupled with other 3rd party software and/or specially developed scripts provide façade designers with an integrated design tool of wide applicability.

Absolute and convective instability in gas turbine fuel injectors

Hydrodynamic instabilities in gas turbine fuel injectors help to mix the fuel and air but can sometimes lock into acoustic oscillations and contribute to thermoacoustic instability. This paper describes a linear stability analysis that predicts the frequencies and strengths of hydrodynamic instabilities and identifies the regions of the flow that cause them. It distinguishes between convective instabilities, which grow in time but are convected away by the flow, and absolute instabilities, which grow in time without being convected away. Convectively unstable flows amplify external perturbations, while absolutely unstable flows also oscillate at intrinsic frequencies. As an input, this analysis requires velocity and density fields, either from a steady but unstable solution to the Navier-Stokes equations, or from time-averaged numerical simulations. In the former case, the analysis is a predictive tool. In the latter case, it is a diagnostic tool. This technique is applied to three flows: a swirling wake at Re = 400, a single stream swirling fuel injector at Re - 106, and a lean premixed gas turbine injector with five swirling streams at Re - 106. Its application to the swirling wake demonstrates that this technique can correctly predict the frequency, growth rate and dominant wavemaker region of the flow. It also shows that the zone of absolute instability found from the spatio-temporal analysis is a good approximation to the wavemaker region, which is found by overlapping the direct and adjoint global modes. This approximation is used in the other two flows because it is difficult to calculate their adjoint global modes. Its application to the single stream fuel injector demonstrates that it can identify the regions of the flow that are responsible for generating the hydrodynamic oscillations seen in LES and experimental data. The frequencies predicted by this technique are within a few percent of the measured frequencies. The technique also explains why these oscillations become weaker when a central jet is injected along the centreline. This is because the absolutely unstable region that causes the oscillations becomes convectively unstable. Its application to the lean premixed gas turbine injector reveals that several regions of the flow are hydrodynamically unstable, each with a different frequency and a different strength. For example, it reveals that the central region of confined swirling flow is strongly absolutely unstable and sets up a precessing vortex core, which is likely to aid mixing throughout the injector. It also reveals that the region between the second and third streams is slightly absolutely unstable at a frequency that is likely to coincide with acoustic modes within the combustion chamber. This technique, coupled with knowledge of the acoustic modes in a combustion chamber, is likely to be a useful design tool for the passive control of mixing and combustion instability. Copyright © 2012 by ASME.

基于场景的笔式界面设计工具的设计和实现

设计实现了一个基于数字笔的用户界面设计工具，该工具以面向笔式界面领域，基于场景的设计思想来设计系统中的界面场景组织关系以及场景之间的动态切换方式，设计者与工具间的交互自然流畅、快捷高效。通过手势识别技术，该工具可以将场景的设计结果转换为内部的界面描述语言，并通过相应的解释最终构造生成笔式用户界面。该工具可以快速生成界面原型，从而有效地提高了笔式交互系统的设计和开发效率。

基于场景方法的笔式界面软件设计工具

为缩短的笔式用户界面软件的开发周期,让设计人员对软件的整体构思在开发过程中得以保持,提高团队人员的交流效率,提出了有关笔式界面软件的文档描述规范PUIML(pen-based user interface modeling language),并设计实现了一个笔交互的笔式用户界面软件设计工具。以笔式操作平台为软件平台,以PUIML为数据模型,采用基于场景设计的开发方法,为设计人员和用户提供自然的纸笔交互方式,设计结果形成PUIML形式的文档,通过主控程序执行。实践结果表明,使用PUI Maker可以解决笔式用户界面开发中存在的以开发人员为中心,原始设计与开发结果不一致等问题,提高了笔式界面软件的开发效率。

一种新型的计算机审计模型

在分析计算机审计的特点及需求的基础上,借鉴数据仓库、OLAP、数据挖掘等技术的优势,提出了一种新型的计算机审计模型。该模型克服了传统审计软件的不足,有效地解决了面对海量数据的审计等问题,提高了审计的效率及质量。最后还对智能审计的发展作了一定的探讨。

Ginsenoside R-e increases fertile and asthenozoospermic infertile human sperm motility by induction of nitric oxide synthase

We investigated the effects of Ginsenoside R-e on human sperm motility in fertile and asthenozoospermic infertile individuals in vitro and the mechanism by which the Ginsenosides play their roles. The semen samples were obtained from 10 fertile volunteers and 10 asthenozoospermic infertile patients. Spermatozoa were separated by Percoll and incubated with 0, 1, 10 or 100 mu M of Ginsenoside R-e. Total sperm motility and progressive motility were measured by computer-aided sperm analyzer (CASA). Nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity was determined by the H-3-arginine to H-3-citrulline conversion assay, and the NOS protein was examined by the Western blot analysis. The production of sperm nitric oxide (NO) was detected using the Griess reaction. The results showed that Ginsenoside R-e significantly enhanced both fertile and infertile sperm motility, NOS activity and NO production in a concentration-dependent manner. Sodium nitroprusside (SNP, 100 nM), a NO donor, mimicked the effects of Ginsenoside R-e. And pretreatment with a NOS inhibitor N-omega-Nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME, 100 mu M) or a NO scavenger N-Acetyl-L-cysteine (LNAC, 1 mM) completely blocked the effects of Ginsenoside R-e. Data suggested that Ginsenoside R-e is beneficial to sperm motility, and that induction of NOS to increase NO production may be involved in this benefit.

兰州重离子加速器冷却储存环注入引出设计及其计算机模拟

环形加速器注入引出方法的研究对提高环内束流的强度、提高引出效率以及束流品质，具有重要的意义。本文对一些常用的环形加速器注入引出方法作了较为详细的研究，并着重对单圈注入、多圈注入与射频堆积以及束流冷却的有机结合作了理论研究和计算机模拟，从理论上实现了重离子束的快速累积。并建立了较完整的计算机程序，对这些多过程的结合进行了模拟，获得了与实验相符的结果。这一理论工作在国内尚属首次，在国际上重离子储存环领域中也是重要的新课题。 本文的研究重点是围绕兰州重离子加速器冷却储存环（HIRFL-CSR）注入引出系统的设计，对CSR主环的多圈注入、射频堆积等束流累积过程、主环的快引出和慢引出过程以及实验环的单圈注入过程进行了详细的计算机模拟，为CSR的束流累积、注入引出系统的工程设计提供了理论依据。

extending the boundary of spreadsheet programming: lessons learned from chinese governmental projects

ICSE

On Combining Morphological Component Analysis and Concentric Morphology Model for Mammographic Mass Detection

Mammographic mass detection is an important task for the early diagnosis of breast cancer. However, it is difficult to distinguish masses from normal regions because of their abundant morphological characteristics and ambiguous margins. To improve the mass detection performance, it is essential to effectively preprocess mammogram to preserve both the intensity distribution and morphological characteristics of regions. In this paper, morphological component analysis is first introduced to decompose a mammogram into a piecewise-smooth component and a texture component. The former is utilized in our detection scheme as it effectively suppresses both structural noises and effects of blood vessels. Then, we propose two novel concentric layer criteria to detect different types of suspicious regions in a mammogram. The combination is evaluated based on the Digital Database for Screening Mammography, where 100 malignant cases and 50 benign cases are utilized. The sensitivity of the proposed scheme is 99% in malignant, 88% in benign, and 95.3% in all types of cases. The results show that the proposed detection scheme achieves satisfactory detection performance and preferable compromises between sensitivity and false positive rates.

The study on automorphism group of ESESOC

It is necessary to generate the automorphism group of a chemical graph in computer-aided structure elucidation. In this paper, an algorithm was developed by the all-paths topological symmetry algorithm to build the automorphism group of a chemical graph. A comparison of several topological symmetry algorithms reveals that the all-paths algorithm (APA) could yield the correct class of a chemical graph. It lays a foundation for the ESESOC system in computer-aided structure elucidation.

Circadian rhythms in the growth and reproduction of the brown alga Undaria pinnatifida and gametogenesis under different photoperiods

Circadian growth rhythm of the juvenile sporophyte of the brown alga Undaria pirznatifida was measured with the computer-aided image analysis system in constant florescent white light under constant temperature (10 degrees C). The growth rhythm persisted for 4 d in constant light with a free-running period of 25. 6 h. Egg release from filamentous gametophytes pre-cultured in the light - dark regime was evaluated for six consecutive days at fixed time intervals in constant white light and 12 h light per day. Egg release rhythm persisted for 3 d in both regimes, indicating the endogenous nature. Temporal scale of egg release and gametogenesis in 18, 16, 12 and 8 h light per day were evaluated respectively using vegetatively propagated filamentous gametophytes. Egg release occurred 2 h after the onset of dark phase and peaked at midnight. Evaluation of the rates of oogonium formation, egg release or fertilization revealed no significant differences in four light-dark regimes, indicating; the great plasticity of sexual reproduction. No photoperiodic effect in gametogenesis in terms of oogonium formation and egg release was found, but fertilization in short days was significantly higher than in long days. Results of this investigation further confirmed the general occurrence of circadian rhythms in inter-tidal seaweed species.