SPROUT—A Modeling Language for SEED

An important capability of the SEED system is rapid generation of internal design representations, including design alternatives, that can be evaluated in terms of a broad range of criteria. It consists of modules that must communicate with each other and remain extensible. From a software engineering perspective, there exists no single programming language or database management system, commercial or research-based, that provides all the needed support. In this paper, we describe the SPROUT modeling language, the cornerstone of efforts to bridge this gap. It supports the specification of a system information model, which contains a building product model as a subset. Developments are discussed that lead to the current language design as well as the support for case-based design, persistent storage of objects, management of versions and alternatives, and communication between different SEED modules (i.e., agents). Emphasis is placed on the automatic generation of computer programs and database schemas from a SPROUT specification. Lastly, this effort is compared to other comparable efforts including PDES∕STEP.     

Ultrasonographic screening before hospital discharge for deep venous thrombosis after arthroplasty: the post-arthroplasty screening study. A randomized, controlled trial

OBJECTIVE: To relate the histological composition of carotid artery plaques with morphology as evaluated by B-mode ultrasound. DESIGN: Prospective study. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Seventy-eight symptomatic patients underwent carotid endarterectomy after preoperative ultrasound Duplex scanning evaluating plaque morphology. Morphometric analysis of the removed specimen was performed in order to quantify content of lipid, haemorrhage, calcification and fibrous tissue. RESULTS: Echolucent plaques contained more lipid (p = 0.01) and less calcification (p = 0.01) and fibrous tissue (p = 0.03) than echo-rich plaques. Intraplaque haemorrhage was directly related to lipid content (p = 0.004) and inversely related to amount of fibrous tissue in the plaque (p = 0.02). CONCLUSION: The intensity of the reflected B-mode ultrasound signal appears related to the histological composition of the plaque. The association between intraplaque haemorrhage and a high lipid content may support the theory of the lipid-rich plaque being more prone to rupture.     

Requirements for the Production of Microtablets: Suitability of Direct-Compression Excipients Estimated from Powder Characteristics and Flow Rates

Eleven direct-compression excipients, namely 3 microcrystalline celluloses, 4 lactoses, 4 co-processed excipients, and 4 mixtures of lactoses with Avicel PHI02 SCG were evaluated for possible use in micro tableting. Powder-technological parameters, namely particle size distributions, true and apparent densities, densification behaviour, and mass flow rates from a funnel through very narrow orifices, were determined.

Flow rates required on modern high-speed rotary tableting machines were calculated.

Flow rates may be estimated even for very narrow orifices, and such studies aid in selection of suitable excipients.

Mainly spray-dried lactose preparations with certain, definite upper limits in size distribution, seem to comply with the prerequisites for the production of micro tablets.     

Schizophrenia is associated with altered orienting activity: Depression with electrodermal (cholinergic?) deficit and normal orienting response.

The import of a recent consensus that a distinctive subgroup of schizophrenics is marked by nonreactivity of the orienting response (OR) to innocuous stimuli has been made ambiguous by reports of similar nonreactivity among depressives. To test this, we studied 50 schizophrenics (14 drug free), 50 depressives (20 drug free), and 50 normal controls. Stimuli were 1000 Hz (60 dB) or 2000 Hz (58 dB) 1-s tones delivered either to the left or right ear. A subsample of each group was told they need do nothing during tone presentations (habituation series); other subsamples had to press a pedal for each designated target signal (left ear, right ear, 1000 Hz, 2000 Hz), ignoring all nontarget tones. Skin conductance response (SCR) and finger pulse volume (FPV) analyses are reported. As in previous work, schizophrenics showed high nonresponding in the habituation series, consistent in both SCR and FPV, and they showed normalizing in both to target signals. Depressives were equally nonresponsive during the habituation series in SCR, but did not normalize to target signals and showed normal FPV response during both the habituation and target series. Whereas schizophrenic dysfunction reflected OR change, that of depressives seemed to reflect cholinergic deficit but intact OR. This was associated with high retardation and low agitation ratings, but not with degree of depression on Hamilton or Zung scales. In addition, 10 largely remitted depressives showed the same pattern as did patients currently in a major depressive episode. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The efficient and unbiased estimation of nuclear size variability using the ‘selector’

The selector was used to make an unbiased estimation of nuclear size variability in one benign naevocellular skin tumour and one cutaneous malignant melanoma. The results showed that the estimates obtained using the selector were comparable to those obtained using the more time consuming Cavalieri-disector approach. Employing ‘optical sections’, the selector was found to be between five and ten times more efficient than the Cavalieri-disector method when using physical sections.     

Soil CO<Subscript>2</Subscript>, CH<Subscript>4</Subscript>, and N<Subscript>2</Subscript>O fluxes over and between tile drains on corn,soybean, and forage fields under tile drainage management

Controlled tile drainage (CTD) can benefit the environment and crop production. However, CTD has the potential to increase soil greenhouse gas (GHG: CO₂, CH₄, N₂O) emissions by increasing soil water contents and elevating field water levels. A paired-field (CTD and uncontrolled tile drainage (UTD)) approach was used to compare soil GHG emissions for silt loam corn, soybean, and forage fields under CTD and UTD management in eastern Ontario, Canada during a drier and a wetter growing season. A total of five field pairs were examined. Soil GHG emissions directly over tile drains (OT) and between tile drains (BT) in the CTD fields were also assessed. Average soil GHG emissions did not significantly differ (p > 0.05) for CTD and UTD field pairs, except for CO₂ emissions (greater emissions from UTD fields) among two field pairs studied (forage in the drier growing season and soybean in the wetter growing season), and N₂O emissions from a soybean field pair in the wet growing season (greater emissions from CTD field). Significantly higher soil water contents in the UTD forage field may have augmented CO₂ fluxes there. There were some significantly higher N₂O (in the wetter growing season) and CO₂ emissions (in both growing seasons) BT relative to OT locations in some fields; but these differences were not translated significantly to other BT and OT site comparisons. The wetter growing season examined resulted in greater average daily soil CO₂ fluxes overall, but similar CH₄ and N₂O fluxes for soybean fields compared to soybean fields in the drier growing season. Overall, there were no spatially or temporally systematic differences in GHG emissions among CTD and UTD field pairs, or among BT and OT locations in CTD fields.     

CaPiTo: protocol stacks for services

CaPiTo allows the modelling of service-oriented applications using process algebras at three levels of abstraction. The abstract level focuses on the key functionality of the services; the plug-in level shows how to obtain security using standardised protocol stacks; finally, the concrete level allows to consider how security is obtained using asymmetric and symmetric cryptographic primitives. The CaPiTo approach therefore caters for a variety of developers that need to cooperate on designing and implementing service-oriented applications. We show how to formally analyse CaPiTo specifications for ensuring the absence of security flaws. The method used is based on static analysis of the corresponding LySa specifications. We illustrate the development on two industrial case studies; one taken from the banking sector and the other a single sign-on protocol.     

Quantitative modelling and analysis of a Chinese smart grid: a stochastic model checking case study

Cyber-physical systems integrate information and communication technology with the physical elements of a system, mainly for monitoring and controlling purposes. The conversion of traditional power grid into a smart grid, a fundamental example of a cyber-physical system, raises a number of issues that require novel methods and applications. One of the important issues in this context is the verification of certain quantitative properties of the system. In this paper, we consider a specific Chinese smart grid implementation as a case study and address the verification problem for performance and energy consumption. We employ stochastic model checking approach and present our modelling and analysis study using PRISM model checker.     

Influence of Preoxidation on High-Temperature Corrosion of a FeCrAl Alloy Under Conditions Relevant to Biomass Firing

Preoxidation of a commercial FeCrAl alloy (Kanthal APM) was evaluated as a surface modification approach to reduce alkali chloride-induced corrosion during biomass firing in power plants. Samples of the alloy preoxidized at 900 °C in O₂ or O₂ + 10 vol% H₂O, and at 1100 °C in O₂, were coated with KCl and exposed at 560 °C to a gas mixture comprising of 12 vol% CO₂, 6 vol% O₂, 3 vol% H₂O, 400 ppmv HCl and 60 ppmv SO₂. The oxide formed at 1100 °C showed no reactivity with the corrosive species. By contrast, all samples preoxidized at 900 °C suffered severe attack, resulting in formation of Fe-, Cr- and Al-containing corrosion products in a heterogeneous morphology, similar to non-preoxidized samples. The observed differences with respect to the degree of corrosion attack on the preoxidized samples are discussed in terms of the composition and thickness of the different types of Al₂O₃ layers obtained by the preoxidation treatment.