The Politics of US Military Research in Greenland in the Early Cold War

The focus of this article is US military research in Greenland and its role in Danish‐American political relations in the early Cold War period 1945–1968. This was a period of intense US research activity that aimed to overcome the hostile Greenlandic environment and harness it for military purposes. In the US‐Danish defense agreement on Greenland of 1951 the USA got a free hand to develop three so‐called defense areas for military purposes, while it had to seek Danish permission for research and other activities outside these areas. The two partners had differing, but mainly compatible, interests in this process. The US interest was freedom to do research on the gigantic Greenland Icecap, while the Danish authorities emphasized the protection of its sovereignty over Greenland. The article follows the US research programs in the 1950s and 1960s and Danish responses in some detail, including the intriguing and still mysterious Camp Century project and its relationship with the US Army's Iceworm plan to deploy strategic missiles beneath the surface of the Greenland Icecap.     

Multi-scale qualitative location: A direction-based model

Qualitative locations describe the locations of spatial objects by relating them to a reference frame with qualitative relations. Existing models concerned with regional partitions are mainly topology-based and do not consider the effects of scale changes on locations. This study develops a direction-based multi-scale qualitative location (DMQL) model to fill this gap. First, a cell partition is defined by extending the borders of the minimum bounding rectangles of the regions in a regional partition. Relating spatial objects to all regions by a set of directions is equal to representing the objects as a set of cells in a cell partition. Second, due to the multiple cell representations of spatial objects and the changes in direction relations across scales, some approaches are presented to derive the direction changes between regions in different frames, between spatial objects and regions, and between spatial objects at different scales. Third, the location and relation consistencies of qualitative locations are evaluated based on the cell representations of spatial objects at multiple scales through a case study. The results indicate that the DMQL model can locate objects more precisely than the topology-based models.     

Structure−property relationships of halogen‐free flame‐retarded poly(butylene terephthalate) and glass fiber reinforced PBT

Flame retardancy for thermoplastics is a challenging task where chemists and engineers work together to find solutions to improve the burning behavior without strongly influencing other key properties of the material. In this work, the halogen‐free additives aluminum diethylphosphinate (AlPi‐Et) and a mixture of aluminum phosphinate (AlPi) and resorcinol‐bis(di‐2,6‐xylyl phosphate) (AlPi‐H + RXP) are employed in neat and reinforced poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT), and the morphology, mechanical performance, rheological behavior, and flammability of these materials are compared. Both additives show submicron dimensions but differ in terms of particle and agglomerate sizes und shapes. The overall mechanical performance of the PBT flame‐retarded with AlPi‐Et is lower than that with AlPi‐H‐RXP, due to the presence of larger agglomerates. Moreover, the flow behavior of the AlPi‐Et/PBT materials is dramatically changed as the larger rod‐like primary particles build a percolation threshold. In terms of flammability, both additives perform similar in the UL 94 test and under forced‐flaming combustion. Nevertheless, AlPi‐Et performs better than AlPi‐H + RXP in the LOI test. The concentration required to achieve acceptable flame retardancy ranges above 15 wt %. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012     

对实质蕴涵若干问题的思考

以实质蕴涵和逻辑蕴涵为对象,通过对郁慕镛教授和袁正校教授的观点进行比较,对逻辑学里的一个非常重要的概念——蕴涵进行了分析和讨论,澄清关于实质蕴涵和逻辑蕴涵的若干误解。     

FUZZIFYING THE “PRECISE”

Based on the fuzzy-integral model, methods and algorithms are developed for identifying the “input–output” operator of continuous and stationary discrete extremal fuzzy dynamic systems (EFDS). The EFDS “input–output” operator is restored by means of experimental data with possibilistic uncertainty, the source of which is extremal fuzzy time intervals. The regularization conditions for obtaining quasi-optimal estimates are substantiated by the proved theorems. The corresponding algorithms are provided. The results obtained are illustrated by examples in the case of a finite set of EFDS states.     

Soft information set for multicriteria decision making

An information source value is perceived differently by different agents. In this paper, we present a new knowledge representation structure, termed as soft information set (SIS), to provide a parameterized representation of the information values, as perceived by an agent. The properties of SIS are investigated and the notion of relations in SIS is devised. The significance of the proposed SIS in aiding multi criteria decision making is illustrated through real case-studies.     

Effect of the matrix resin structure on the mechanical properties and braking performance of organic brake pads

Two chemically modified phenolic resins (PFs) designed and developed for the matrix resins of organic friction materials were characterized. The braking performance of organic brake pads based on the two modified resins and reinforced with hybrid fibers was investigated on a full‐scale test bench. The results indicate that the modified PF with more internal friction units possessed much higher impact and compression strengths, greater toughness, and better braking stability. We concluded that the matrix resin with more adjustable structural units allowed for an adjustable Young's modulus and dynamic mechanical properties and, hence, could indirectly allow an adjustable friction coefficient for organic brake pads during braking process and, furthermore, enable the optimization of braking stability of the friction couples. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2012     

AN ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVE ON FUZZY SET-BASED APPROXIMATE REASONING

Abstract

On the subject of fuzzy set-based approximate reasoning, this paper attempts to present a perspective that is both rigorously stated and different from the standard approach as stated by Mamdani and many others. Functionally speaking, this alternative perspective produces results essentially the same as the standard one, and in fact we intend to prove that subject to certain assumptions the results will be exactly die same. We feel however that the alternative perspective offers advantages in that it makes a more appropriate and more understandable use of such concepts as fuzzy relations, the extension principle, and fuzzy composition. If indeed it can lead to a clearer and more widespread understanding of the approximate reasoning formalism then this could conceivably spark broader interest in fuzzy control and other applications.     

What do stakeholders think about knowledge transfer offices? The perspective of firms and research groups in a regional innovation system

Knowledge transfer offices (KTOs) are required to adopt a comprehensive approach to managing a broad set of channels of university–industry collaboration, including collaborative research, business services, exchange of human resources and informal relations within a regional innovation system. The perspectives of firms and academic researchers, the main stakeholders of KTOs, are useful complements to assess KTO activity. The goal of this article is to study the effectiveness that these stakeholders attribute to KTOs. Based on survey data collected in the Spanish region of Andalusia, the article explores stakeholders’ perceptions and determinants. The results show that the level of engagement in a diversified range of activities and the importance attributed to knowledge transfer in the strategy of both research groups and firms are the best predictors of the perceived effectiveness of KTOs. The article also underlines specific differences between the two types of stakeholders.     

An improved convergence analysis for the Newton–Kantorovich method using recurrence relations

We generate a sequence using the Newton–Kantorovich method in order to approximate a locally unique solution of an operator equation on a Banach space under Hölder continuity conditions. Using recurrence relations, Hölder as well as centre-Hölder continuity assumptions on the operator involved, we provide a semilocal convergence analysis with the following advantages over the elegant work by Hernánde? in (The Newton method for operators with Hölder continuous first derivative, J. Optim. Theory Appl. 109(3) (2001), pp. 631–648.) (under the same computational cost): finer error bounds on the distances involved, and a more precise information on the location of the solution. Our results also compare favourably with recent and relevant ones in (I.K. Argyros, Concerning the “terra incognita” between convergence regions of two Newton methods, Nonlinear Anal. 62 (2005), pp. 179–194; I.K. Argyros, Computational Theory of Iterative Methods, in Studies in Computational Mathematics, Vol. 15, C.K. Chui and L. Wuytack, eds., Elsevier Publ. Co., New York, USA, 2007; I.K. Argyros, On the gap between the semilocal convergence domain of two Newton methods, Appl. Math. 34(2) (2007), pp. 193–204; I.K. Argyros, On the convergence region of Newton's method under Hölder continuity conditions, submitted for publication; I.K. Argyros, Estimates on majorizing sequences in the Newton–Kantorovich method, submitted for publication; F. Cianciaruso and E. DePascale, Newton–Kantorovich approximations when the derivative is Hölderian: Old and new results, Numer. Funct. Anal. Optim. 24 (2003), pp. 713–723; F. Cianciaruso and E. DePascale, Estimates of majorizing sequences in the Newton–Kantorovich method, Numer. Funct. Anal. Optim. 27(5–6) (2006), pp. 529–538; F. Cianciaruso and E. DePascale, Estimates of majorizing sequences in the Newton–Kanorovich method: A further improvement, J. Math. Anal. Appl. 322 (2006), pp. 329–335; N.T. Demidovich, P.P. Zabreiko, and Ju.V. Lysenko, Some remarks on the Newton–Kantorovich mehtod for nonlinear equations with Hölder continuous linearizations, Izv. Akad. Nauk Belorus 3 (1993), pp. 22–26 (in Russian). (E. DePascale and P.P. Zabreiko, The convergence of the Newton–Kantorovich method under Vertgeim conditions, A new improvement, Z. Anal. Anwendvugen 17 (1998), pp. 271–280.) and (L.V. Kantorovich and G.P. Akilov, Functional Analysis in Normed Spaces, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1982; J.V. Lysenko, Conditions for the convergence of the Newton–Kantorovich method for nonlinear equations with Hölder linearizations, Dokl. Akad. Nauk BSSR 38 (1994), pp. 20–24 (in Russian); B.A. Vertgeim, On some methods for the approximate solution of nonlinear functional equations in Banach spaces, Uspekhi Mat. Nauk 12 (1957), pp. 166–169 (in Russian); Amer. Math. Soc. Transl. 16 (1960), pp. 378–382. (English Trans.).)